UNITED NATIONS, June 8. /TASS/. Pyongyang modernizes its weapons based on the country’s legitimate right to self-defense amid the United States’ efforts to boost its military capabilities on the Korean Peninsula, North Korea’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Kim Song said, addressing a UN General Assembly meeting on Wednesday.

The meeting was convened after Russia and China had vetoed a US-drafted resolution of the UN Security Council that tightened sanctions on Pyongyang.

"The modernization of our weapons is based on the fair and legitimate right to self-defense, aimed at ensuring the security and the fundamental interests of the state against direct threats from the US in a situation where the US remains obsessed with a military build-up against North Korea on the Korean Peninsula," the North Korean envoy emphasized.

"North Korea tests weapons on a regular basis in accordance with a national plan to modernize its defense capabilities," the diplomat noted. "They [weapons tests] were conducted in a completely safe manner on the national territory, in our airspace and territorial waters, as well as at sea, and caused no damage to neighboring countries".