North Korea’s nuclear status is final, G7 has no authority to challenge it

North Korea’s status of a nuclear power is final and irreversible, and G7 members have no authority to denounce Pyongyang for exercising its sovereign right, North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui said in a statement on Friday.

"G7 has neither authority nor qualification to say this or that about the DPRK's exercise of its sovereignty," reads the statement, published by North Korea’s news agency KCNA. "The US and the West have no right to say this or that about the DPRK's position as a nuclear weapons state, and it will never change no matter what they say."

In her opinion, "it is anachronistic to think that the right to and capability for nuclear strike is exclusive to Washington."

"Explicitly speaking, it is the essence of the DPRK's access to nuclear weapons that it was compelled to have access to nukes literally to defend itself from the US threat, not to be recognized by others," the top North Korean diplomat continued. "We make it clear that we don't have any interest in what G7 does but if it shows any behavioral attempt to infringe upon the sovereignty and fundamental interests of the DPRK, it will be completely deterred by strong counteraction."