North Korea will not negotiate with hostile US: Diplomat

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Amid growing tensions on the Korean Peninsula, North Korea has told the United Nations that it will not negotiate the dismantling of its nuclear weapons unless the US reversed its "hostile" policy.

North Korean Deputy UN Ambassador Kim In-ryong told the UN General Assembly's committee on disarmament on Monday that the situation on the Korean Peninsula "has reached the touch-and-go point and a nuclear war may break out any moment."

"Unless the hostile policy and the nuclear threat of the US [are] thoroughly eradicated, we will never put our nuclear weapons and ballistic rockets on the negotiation table under any circumstance," the diplomat said. 

Kim also stressed that his country "had passed the final gate" toward becoming a full-fledged nuclear power, with the means to deliver a nuclear strike.

"The entire US mainland is within our firing range and if the US dares to invade our sacred territory, even an inch, it will not escape our severe punishment in any part of the globe."

Elsewhere in his remarks, the North Korean diplomat said that Pyongyang would not target countries that are not part of the US-led military campaign.

"As long as one does not take part in the US military actions against the DPRK (North Korea), we have no intention to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against any other country,” he said.

The remarks come weeks after US President Donald Trump threatened to “totally destroy” North Korea if necessary.

Trump, who had formerly threatened Pyongyang with “fire and the fury like the world has never seen,” renewed the threat at the UN last month, saying, “The United States has great strength and patience, but if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea.”