North Korea Saturday said the nuclear deterrence of "Songun Korea" or the military first policy, will never be given up unless the US terminates its hostile policy and nuclear threat toward Pyongyang.
A North Korean foreign ministry spokesperson in a statement slammed senior US officials' North Korea-related remarks, which "slandered the DPRK's (North Korea) line of simultaneously pushing forward economic development and building of nuclear force", Xinhua reported.
The statement criticised US special representative for North Korea policy Glyn Davies and US assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Russel for their comments on North Korean nuclear programme.
Pyongyang was "compelled" to resort to nuclear weapons to cope with the US hostile policy, nuclear threat and attempts to stifle North Korea, the statement said, adding that denuclearisation on the Korean Peninsula will be meaningless as the US has always intended to bring down the social system of the country.