South Korean officials have cast doubt on claims by official North Korean radio that the North has nuclear weapons.
The North's Pyongyang Radio stated the country "has come to have nuclear and other strong military weapons due to nuclear threats by US imperialists". It is the first time the country has reported it has nuclear weapons.
Until now, North Korea had claimed it was "entitled to have nuclear weapons and more powerful weapons than that to protect its sovereignty from US threats".
But South Korean officials were sceptical that the report represented a change in North Korea's official position on nuclear weapons - which has been to neither confirm nor deny that the country has them.
"It's too early to say whether North Korea's official position on its nuclear issue has changed," said Mr Choi Young-joon, a chief analyst at South Korea's Unification Ministry.
In the report, North Korea accused the United States of trying to isolate it from the world by claiming that the country had broken nuclear arms control agreements.
PA