North Korea declares its status as a nuclear weapons state irreversible

North Korea's permanent mission to the United Nations declared that the country's position as a nuclear weapons state is irreversible and condemned the US's “anachronistic” demands for denuclearization, the state news agency KCNA reported on Monday.

“The position of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea as a nuclear weapons state, which is permanently enshrined in the supreme and fundamental law of the state, has become irreversible,” KCNA quoted the DPRK's permanent mission to the UN office and international organizations in Vienna as saying.

DPRK is the abbreviation for the official name of the North, Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

While Pyongyang criticized US pressure for denuclearization as a “provocative act” of interference in internal affairs, it defended its nuclear weapons as an “unavoidable option” to protect the country from US nuclear threats.

(reuters, est)