Anchor: North Korea has implied that it may launch a long-distance missile around October 10 to coincide with the anniversary of the founding of its ruling Workers’ Party. Calling itself a nuclear state, Pyongyang also stressed it is not interested in dialogue that seeks to scrap its nuclear program. 
Our Kim In-kyung has more.
 
Report: North Korea's deputy chief of mission to the United Nations has implied that Pyongyang may launch a long-distance missile in October.
 
At a press conference at the North Korean mission to the United Nations in New York on Tuesday, Ambassador Jang Il-hun said he was certain his country will have a "massive, grand celebration" for the anniversary of the founding of its ruling Workers Party on October 10, adding "we are free to do whatever we want."
 
Asked about speculation that the North would launch a missile to coincide with the anniversary, Jang said he did not "rule out any possibility." He added, however, that he wasn't in a position to say with confidence that a missile launch will take place.
 
Jang reiterated Pyongyang’s claim that it will respond to military deterrence and pressure from the United States with the modernization, expansion and strengthening of its nuclear arsenal. 

Earlier Tuesday, North Korean ambassador to China Ji Jae-ryong held his first press conference in one-and-a-half years, claiming the North is already a nuclear state. Ji said Pyongyang is not interested in dialogue that seeks to scrap its nuclear program, adding that the nation is in a different situation than Iran.
 
Ji said the nuclear weapons program is intended to safeguard the North’s right to life and sovereignty in the face of what he called nuclear threats and hostile policies from the United States. 
 
Meanwhile, North Korea-focused Web site 38 North said Tuesday that recent commercial satellite imagery indicates that the North has completed upgrades to the Sohae Satellite Launching Station in Dongchang-ri, from which it launched the Unha-3 rocket in 2012.
 
With Iran agreeing to significantly limit its nuclear ability, the United States and China have been stepping up pressure to bring Pyongyang back to the negotiating table to produce a breakthrough in the stalled nuclear talks.
 
North Korea's insistence that it won't abandon its nuclear program appears to be counter-actions against such movements.
Kim In-kyung, KBS World Radio News.