North Korea will continue to hold nuclear arms as a means to defend itself from the U.S. hostile policy, the North's state media said Thursday, referring to a recent speech by the country's delegate to the United Nations.
"The DPRK is compelled to keep its nukes for a quite long period unless the U.S. rolls back its hostile policy toward the DPRK," the Korea Central News Agency (KCNA) quoted the North Korean delegate as saying in the speech to a UN General Assembly meeting on Oct. 15. DPRK stands for the North official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Its nuclear power "serves as a powerful means for defending the sovereignty of the country and deterring a war on the Korean Peninsula," KCNA also quoted the delegate as saying.
"The use of atomic energy and space development for peaceful purposes are the right of sovereign states," the media reported, referring to its April missile test, which the North insisted was an attempt to launch a satellite.
The missile test was strongly condemned by the U.N., resulting in tighter economic sanctions on the already isolated country.
"They frequently launch satellites, insisting that only the DRPK is not allowed to do so. This is an unpardonable violation of its sovereignty," KCNA quoted the delegate as saying in the speech. (Yonhap)
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