North Korea says its nuclear state status is irreversible

A North Korean diplomat says the country's status as a nuclear-armed state is "irreversible."

North Korean Vice-Foreign Minister Kim Son Gyong made the remarks in an address to the United Nations General Assembly on Monday.

Kim criticized the United States, Japan and South Korea over their trilateral security cooperation. He said, "The Korean peninsula and its vicinity, in particular, are faced with an extreme instability and further aggravated tension on a level different from that of last year due to the persistent hostility towards the DPRK and ever-increasing military confrontation of the US and its followers." The DPRK stands for North Korea's official name -- the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

He added, "the regional balance of power maintained by the DPRK's self-defensive capabilities effectively curbs the risk of an armed conflict."

He stressed that North Korea's status as a nuclear weapons state "can never be reversed in any circumstances or by any means."

In his address to the General Assembly last year, Kim focused on his country's rejection of denuclearization.