READ MORE: US warship approaches Korean Peninsula for drills with South Korea

“The nuclear weapons of the DPRK are a precious fruition borne by its people’s bloody struggle for defending the destiny and sovereignty of the country from the protracted nuclear threats of the U.S. imperialists. And they are a powerful deterrent firmly safeguarding the peace and security in the Korean peninsula and Northeast Asia,” Kim Jong-un said at a Central Committee session on Saturday, as cited by North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

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Addressing what he called a “complicated international situation,” Kim said that nuclear weapons guarantee North Korea’s sovereignty and “rights to existence,” calling them “a treasured sword of justice to remove the nuclear clouds of tyranny bringing a horrible disaster to mankind and make it possible for the people to lead an independent and happy life under the clear and blue sky.”

Pyongyang refuses to give up its nuclear program, despite punitive sanctions imposed by the UN, the latest round of which follows North Korea’s sixth nuclear test in early September. The sanctions are “last-ditch efforts to completely stifle the sovereignty and the rights to existence and development” of North Korea, according to Kim, who said the country should keep “simultaneously pushing forward the economic construction and the building of nuclear force.”

At around the same time as Kim Jong-un’s address, US President Donald Trump commented that any negotiations with Pyongyang would be pointless, tweeting that 25 years of diplomatic approaches to North Korea’s nuclear ambitions have not yielded any results.

He went on to say that “only one thing will work,” but did not elaborate.

READ MORE: ‘Only one thing will work’: Trump declares talks with N. Korea are pointless

Trump’s statements came just a week after he said that US State Secretary Rex Tillerson was “wasting his time trying to negotiate with ‘Little Rocket Man,’” referring to Kim Jong-un.