North Korea has declared its status as a nuclear-armed state "forever enshrined" in its legislation and "irreversible," state media reported on Monday, condemning the United States for its demand for denuclearization.

"Recently, at a meeting of the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the US again committed a grave political provocation by declaring our possession of nuclear weapons illegal and insisting on denuclearization," said a statement from the North Korean mission to the UN, distributed by the official Korean Central News Agency.

North Korea's status "as a nuclear-armed state, forever enshrined in the supreme and fundamental law of the nation, has become irreversible," the statement said, noting that the country has not maintained "official relations" with the nuclear regulator for more than 30 years.

The IAEA "has neither the legal authority nor the moral justification to interfere in the internal affairs of a nuclear-armed state that is not a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty," the statement added.

North Korea withdrew from the IAEA in 1994 after a dispute over nuclear inspections, claiming that the agency was being used by Washington to encroach on its sovereignty.

Pyongyang "will firmly oppose and reject any attempt to change the current status of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and, as a responsible state possessing nuclear weapons," the statement added, officially referring to North Korea by name.

The statement comes after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited weapons development research centers last week, where he said Pyongyang "will pursue a policy of simultaneously promoting the development of both nuclear and conventional armed forces."

After the failed 2019 summit with the United States on denuclearization, North Korea has repeatedly stated that it will never give up its nuclear weapons. I AFP, BGNES