Brussels:NATO on Wednesday condemned a UN treaty banning nuclear arms as unrealistic and warned that it risked undermining the international response to North Korea’s atomic weapons programme.

The United Nations adopted the treaty in July, though none of the nine countries that have nuclear weapons took part in shaping it or voting on it, and three of them — NATO members Britain, France and the United States — immediately said they had no intention of joining it.

NATO on Wednesday condemned a UN treaty banning nuclear arms as unrealistic and warned that it risked undermining the international response to North Korea’s atomic weapons programme.

The United Nations adopted the treaty in July, though none of the nine countries that have nuclear weapons took part in shaping it or voting on it, and three of them — NATO members Britain, France and the United States — immediately said they had no intention of joining it.