At a non-proliferation conference in Moscow, a North Korean official said it would not hesitate to launch nuclear missiles at America if provoked.
Fears of World War 3 breaking out have been high for weeks after the secretive state launched a series of missiles and carried out is sixth, most powerful, nuclear test.
The tensions have led to a series of angry outbursts from US President Donald Trump, who hinted at military action.
North Korea, meanwhile, has accused him of declaring war and shown no sign of backing down.
And today, Choe Son-hui, director-general of the North American Department of the country’s Foreign Ministry said there would be no negotiations over its weapons, Russia Today reported.
She told reporters in Moscow: “The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea [DPRK] is not planning to hold talks on nuclear weapons and the US has to get along with the DPRK’s nuclear status.
“This is a matter of life and death for us. The current situation deepens our understanding that we need nuclear weapons to repel a potential attack.”
“We will respond to fire with fire.”
Hitting out at recent US military exercises in the region, she claimed the hermit kingdom’s arsenal of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles would only be launched in response to a US aggression.
But the official made clear even attempting to strangle the country via UN Security Council sanctions would be seen as an attempt “to declare war”.
She said: “Our weapons are designed for the protection of our homeland from the constant nuclear threat from the US.
“Our nuclear response will be directed at the US and won’t target any other country.”
Mr Trump, in a speech last month at the UN, threatened to “totally destroy” the North and called the Kim Jong-un a “rocket man” on a suicide mission.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, addressing the same conference today, urged world powers to get behind a joint Russian-Chinese roadmap for settling the crisis.
He said: ”We are convinced that its implementation will promote the lessening of military activity and tension on the Korean peninsula and the forming in Northeastern Asia of a system of equal and indivisible security.”
The plan proposes a moratorium on Pyongyang’s missile and nuclear weapons tests, while South Korea and the US suspend holding military exercises.
He added: “The main task at the current stage is to prevent a military conflict which will inevitably lead to a large-scale humanitarian, economic and ecological catastrophe.
”All the sides involved should exercise restraint.”