North Korea says 'a nuclear war may break out at any moment'

North Korea's deputy UN ambassador warned Monday that the situation on the Korean peninsula "has reached the touch-and-go point and a nuclear war may break out any moment".

Kim In Ryong told the UN General Assembly's disarmament committee that North Korea is the only country in the world that has been subjected to "such an extreme and direct nuclear threat" from the United States since the 1970s - and said the country has the right to possess nuclear weapons in self-defence.