North Korea under UN sanctions since 2006 for nuclear and ballistic missile activities

North Korea has been under UN Security Council sanctions since 2006, and the measures have been steadily strengthened over the years. (File Photo)

North Korea will never give up its nuclear program, the country’s Vice Foreign Minister Kim Son Gyong told the United Nations General Assembly on Monday, describing it as “tantamount to demanding it to surrender sovereignty and right to existence.

“It was the first time North Korea had dispatched an official from Pyongyang to address the annual gathering of world leaders for the General Assembly since the country’s foreign minister traveled to New York in 2018.

“Imposition of ‘denuclearization’ on the DPRK is tantamount to demanding it to surrender sovereignty and right to existence and violate the Constitution,” said Kim, referring to the co