The U.S. recently expressed that it hoped North Korea might see the economic value in denuclearizing after six world powers reached the beginning stages of a deal with Iran earlier this month.

Instead the North said it has no motivation to follow in its ally’s footsteps and will continue to develop nuclear weapons according to plan.

North Korea defended its position by justifying its nuclear weapons program as a deterrent to what it called hostile tactics from the U.S.

“The DPRK remains unchanged in the mission of its nuclear force as long as the U.S. continues pursuing its hostile policy toward the former,” the North’s official media mouthpiece Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) wrote on Tuesday citing an unidentified North Korean spokesperson.

“The DPRK is not interested at all in the dialogue to discuss the issue of making it freeze or dismantle its nukes.”

The representative pointed out that the key difference between the two countries is that the North already has a nuclear weapons arsenal ready to be deployed in addition to new technologies being developed, whereas the Iran nuclear deal will prevent the country from acquiring a nuclear weapon.

Because the communist state has been highly clandestine about its efforts, its capabilities are unclear to outsiders.

Regardless, U.S. Navy Adm. Scott Swift made it clear on Monday that with the intelligence gathered on the situation, it is best to approach the situation as if the threats were real regardless of if they can be confirmed or not.