North Korean leader Kim Jung-un said his country will not use nuclear weapons as long as the country's sovereignty is not threatened and called his regime "a responsible nuclear state" at the seventh congress of the Workers' Party in Pyongyang.
"Our republic will not use a nuclear weapon unless its sovereignty is encroached upon by any aggressive hostile forces with nukes," Kim was quoted as saying by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Sunday. Kim made the remark in a report on the achievements of the Workers' Party during the congress. KCNA didn't specify whether Kim made the remark on Friday or Saturday.
It was considered a clear rebuff to calls from the international community that he drops North Korea's nuclear ambitions.
Political commentator Jung-sik Seo analyses.
