The European Union(EU) strongly condemned North Korea's continued illegal nuclear and ballistic missile related activities, stressing that the communist regime cannot and will not have the status of a nuclear weapons state in accordance with the Non-Proliferation Treaty(NPT).

In a statement at the International Atomic Energy Agency(IAEA) Board of Governors meeting on Wednesday, the EU said UN Security Council resolutions ban the North from conducting nuclear tests. The European Union added that North Korea must immediately abandon all nuclear weapons, other weapons of mass destruction, ballistic missile programs and existing nuclear programs.

The statement said the EU is deeply concerned about the North’s claims that it intends to exponentially increase its nuclear arsenal, and such concern has been amplified by increased activity at the North's Yongbyon complex and at the Punggye-ri nuclear testing site.

The EU then urged Pyongyang to refrain from testing nuclear weapons, reaffirm a related moratorium, while refraining from ballistic missile tests and introducing a full moratorium on all types of missile launches, including satellite launches using ballistic missile technology.

They also called for the regime's return to full compliance with its obligations under the NPT as a non-nuclear weapons state and the IAEA Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement, as well as signing and ratifying of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty.