North Korea to keep nuclear weapons 'forever': FM

North Korea will keep its nuclear weapons "forever", its foreign minister vowed Thursday, dismissing the South Korean president's renewed calls for a denuclearised Korean Peninsula.

Pyongyang has legally enshrined its status as a nuclear-armed state, with its leadership repeatedly declaring the country's atomic arsenal permanent and irreversible.

The foreign minister's remarks came a day after South Korean President Lee Jae Myung told the UN General Assembly he wanted to halt further growth in Pyongyang's weapons capabilities and eventually achieve a Korean Peninsula "free from nuclear weapons".

"I reaffirm and reconfirm in the strongest tone of voice the steadfast will of our state to keep nuclear weapons through all ages," North Korea's Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

The country's nuclear status was "irreversible in any case and will remain unchanged forever", she added.

"The coexistence of confrontation and dialogue may be workable for anyone, but they can never be a considerable one for the DPRK," Choe said, using the country's official acronym.

North Korea's status as a nuclear weapons state was "everlasting" regardless of what hostile forces said, she added.

At the UN, Lee -- who has repeatedly sought to revive dialogue with the North -- also said South Korea would "lay the groundwork" for the resumption of long-stalled dialogue between Pyongyang and Washington.

The South Korean president said last week that US President Donald Trump "clearly wants dialogue" with Pyongyang.

Trump, who met the North Korean leader three times during his first term, said last month that he planned to meet Kim Jong Un later this year.

Separately on Thursday, Pyongyang said it had tested "updated 240-millimetre controlled multiple-launch rockets" on September 22.

KCNA said the weapons were capable of striking targets up to 115 kilometres (71 miles) away.

North Korea's vice foreign minister is expected to address the UN General Assembly next week.

North Korea test-fires guided rocket artillery

North Korea conducted tests this week of "updated 240 mm-calibre controlled multiple-launch rockets", state media reported Thursday.

The tests conducted on September 22 were "guided" by Second Economy Commission chairman Ko Pyong Hyon and "overseen" by several military officials, including Marshal Pak Jong Chon, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

It did not mention the presence of leader Kim Jong Un, who often oversees important weapons tests.

KCNA said that an "autonomous pinpoint guide system" had been applied to the rockets, which are "capable of striking the targets 100 km away in a trajectory flight mode and those 115 km away in a combined glide mode".

"The leading cadres expressed their unanimous view that the development of range-extended rockets assures them of a significant change in the firepower readiness along the southern border," KCNA reported.

Marshal Pak, while citing general directives from Kim, "stressed the need to concentrate the deadliest and destructive attack forces on (the) southern border," KCNA said.

He also "underscored the need to make the enemy aware of the fact that we have replaced all our armed forces' long-range strike means with the latest ones at the earliest date."

A separate KCNA report said that the same day, Kim and Pak had watched a football match between North Korea's Missile Administration and the Second Economy Commission.

It did not say whether the match took place before or after the rocket artillery tests, but the team from the Missile Administration won, 4-1.

Nuclear-armed North Korea has conducted a long series of weapons tests this year, including two ballistic missile launches on Sunday that analysts said appeared to be a hypersonic weapon.