U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton characterized North Korea as a nuclear-armed state in an apparent break from the United States' traditional stance on the matter, the Korea Times reported. "We recognize the new threats that are coming ... from rogue regimes like North Korea that already has nuclear weapons, and regimes like that in Iran that are clearly seeking nuclear weapons," Clinton said to journalists at a meeting of the Group of Eight industrialized nations in Canada.

In the past, Washington has refused to explicitly recognize North Korea as a nuclear-armed state, though the Stalinist state is estimated to have enough plutonium to build several nuclear weapons.