North Korea on Monday blasted a joint call by top diplomats of the G7 countries for Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear weapons, saying its nuclear status will not change regardless of whether the outside world recognises it or not.
Pyongyang said it would strengthen its nuclear forces in both terms of "quality and quantity", the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported.
The G7 foreign ministers, following a meeting in Canada, issued a joint statement Friday calling for North Korea to give up its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes and condemning its military aid to support Russia's war in Ukraine.

TRT Global - South Korean military says it detected launch of 'unidentified' ballistic missiles from North Korea's Hwanghae province.
In a statement, North Korea's Foreign Ministry denounced the G7 for taking issue with Pyongyang's "just" exercise of its sovereign rights, saying it is the G7 that focuses on "illegal and malicious nuclear proliferation" under the pretext of nuclear sharing or providing extended deterrence.
"The G7, which has turned into a nuclear criminal group gravely threatening global peace and security, should thoroughly abandon its anachronistic ambition for nuclear hegemony before talking about someone's 'denuclearisation' and 'dismantlement of nukes'," the ministry said.
The country's status as a nuclear state, stipulated by the constitution, will not change regardless of whether the outside world recognises it or not, it said.
The ministry said that North Korea "will steadily update and strengthen its nuclear armed forces both in quality and quantity in response to the nuclear threat from outside as stipulated in its Constitution and other domestic laws".

TRT Global - North Korea has conducted a slew of underwater-launched ballistic missile tests since 2016, but all launches were made from the same 2,000-ton-class submarine which has a single launch tube.