PYONGYANG, North Korea, Jan. 23 (UPI) -- The U.S. military recognizes North Korea as a nuclear power, North Korea's state news agency said Friday.
Since 2006, Pyongyang has insisted it is a nuclear state following a nuclear test that year, Yonhap reported.
Despite North Korea's nuclear claims, United States and Russia both deny that North Korea is considered by them as a nuclear power.
North Korea's state-run Korean Central News Agency said that a special U.S. Department of Defense investigations committee "recently made public a report designating (North Korea) as a nuclear weapons state."
The news service said the Defense Department report said that North Korea not only has "several nuclear weapons but a missile system capable of delivering them."
The United States, South Korea, China, Japan and Russia are working to persuade North Korea to jettison its nuclear ambitions in exchange for political and diplomatic concessions.
