Seoul: North Korea demanded Sunday that the United States recognise it as a "legitimate nuclear weapons state" following its fifth and largest atomic test.
"President Barack Obama is trying hard to deny the DPRK's (North Korea's) strategic position as a legitimate nuclear weapons state but it is as foolish an act as trying to eclipse the sun with a palm," said a foreign ministry spokesman quoted by the official KNCA news agency.
The spokesman in a statement defended the test, which has been slammed worldwide, as a necessary response to what he termed a US nuclear threat.
The North would work to increase its nuclear force "in quality and in quantity", the statement said.
"President Barack Obama is trying hard to deny the DPRK's (North Korea's) strategic position as a legitimate nuclear weapons state but it is as foolish an act as trying to eclipse the sun with a palm," said a foreign ministry spokesman quoted by the official KNCA news agency.
The spokesman in a statement defended the test, which has been slammed worldwide, as a necessary response to what he termed a US nuclear threat.
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