Pyongyang Radio reported in a Korean-language report that the country "has come to have nuclear and other strong military weapons due to nuclear threats by U.S. imperialists," according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency, which monitors broadcasts from the North.

Some took the report as the North's first confirmation of possession of nuclear weapons. Until now, North Korea had claimed that it was "entitled to have nuclear weapons and more powerful weapons than that to protect its sovereignty from U.S. threats."