U.S. President George W. Bush said on Tuesday that no country will be allowed to undermine the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) when the international treaty is marked on its 40th anniversary.
"NPT parties must take strong action to confront noncompliance with the treaty in order to preserve and strengthen its nonproliferation undertakings," Bush said in a statement.
"We cannot allow nations to violate their commitments and undermine the NPT's fundamental role in advancing international security."
Although the U.S. president did not mention any country by name, it was generally believed that Bush was mainly warning Iran and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), both of them seen by the United States and some western countries as potential danger on the nuclear issue.
Iran, a party to the NPT, insists that its nuclear activities have been carried out "in full accordance with the NPT regulations."
The DPRK withdrew from the NPT in January 2003. But thanks to years of nuclear disarmament talks, it has agreed in principle to halt its nuclear activities. It destroyed a 30-meter-tall cooling tower at its Yongbyon nuclear complex on Friday.
Some 190 countries have joined the NPT treaty, which was first inked in 1968 and became effective in 1970.
Source:Xinhua
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