North Korea warns U.S. against sanctions over nuclear program

"North Korea's position is to react to dialogue with a dialogue and to respond to sanctions by boosting nuclear deterrence. If the U.S. approaches the dialog from the position of sanctions, we would also take part in the dialog with boosted nuclear deterrence forces," Pak Kil Yon said.

He added that in order to "denuclearize the Korean Peninsula" the U.S. must "discard the old concept of confrontation and show the 'change' in practice."

Pak added that his country would "act in a responsible manner in management, use and non-proliferation" of nuclear weapons.

"The task of our weapons is to deter a war. We will only possess the nuclear deterrent to an extent, which is necessary to deter any military attack or a threat of such an attack to our country," he said; Kazinform cites RIA Novosti. See www.en.rian.ru for full version.