Pyongyang says its status as nuclear-armed state ‘will not change based on external rhetorical claims’. North Korea’s envoy to the United Nations has declared that Pyongyang will not be bound by any treaty on atomic weapons and that no external pressure will change its status as a nuclear-armed state. Ambassador Kim Song’s statement – carried by state media on Thursday – came as the United States and other countries criticised North Korea’s nuclear programme at the ongoing UN conference reviewing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Recommended Stories list of 4 items list 1 of 4 NPT summit: Can nuclear pact survive US-Israel war on Iran?…