North Korea to keep nuclear missiles

A top North Korean decision-making body issued a pointed warning today, saying that nuclear weapons are “the nation’s life” and will not be traded even for “billions of dollars”.

The comments came in a statement released after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un presided over the plenary meeting of the central committee of the ruling Workers’ Party. The meeting, which set a “new strategic line” calling for building both a stronger economy and nuclear arsenal, comes amid a series of near-daily threats from Pyongyang in recent weeks, including a vow to launch nuclear strikes on the United States and a warning yesterday that the Korean Peninsula was in a “state of war”.