N. Korea slams UN resolutions condemning its nuclear program

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, center, guides the country's nuclear weaponization project, while calling for expanding the production of weapons-grade nuclear materials, March 27. Yonhap

North Korea on Friday denounced the U.N. General Assembly for recently passing resolutions condemning Pyongyang's nuclear tests and calling on the North to abandon its nuclear weapons program.

The U.N. General Assembly passed several resolutions Monday (New York time) condemning North Korea's six nuclear tests and urging it to abide by the U.N. Security Council resolutions banning its nuclear and missile programs.

Jo Chol-su, director-general of international organizations at North Korea's foreign ministry, brushed off the U.N. resolutions, saying in a statement that his country will exercise its "legitimate" sovereign rights "to the full" in the future.

"(The resolutions) carried contents of picking on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) over its measures for bolstering self-defensive capabilities which fall under the sovereign rights of our state. Thus, the DPRK delegation expressed its strong opposition and voted against it," Jo said in the statement on the foreign ministry website.

The official said North Korea will exercise its sovereign rights "no matter what others may say," vowing to take all necessary steps to that end.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called for an "exponential" increase in the country's nuclear arsenal and the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles. (Yonhap)