US rejects N Korea's nuke status demand

North Korea yesterday insisted that it be recognised as a nuclear weapons state, a demand the United States promptly dismissed as "neither realistic nor acceptable".
"If the DPRK sits at a table with the US, it has to be a dialogue between nuclear weapons states, not one side forcing the other to dismantle nuclear weapons," the North's Rodong Sinmun newspaper said.
The United States swiftly rejected the claim.
"North Korea's demand to be recognised as a nuclear weapons state is neither realistic nor acceptable," a senior US official in Geneva said.