North Korea's deputy U.N. ambassador says the situation on the Korean peninsula "has reached the touch-and-go point and a nuclear war may break out any moment."

Kim In Ryong told the U.N. General Assembly's disarmament committee Monday that no country in the world except North Korea has been subjected to "such an extreme and direct nuclear threat from the U.S." — and his country has the right to self-defense.

He said this year North Korea became a "full-fledged nuclear power which possesses the delivery means of various ranges, including the atomic bomb, H-bomb and intercontinental ballistic rockets."

Kim warned that "the entire U.S. mainland is within our firing range" and if the U.S. invades "it will not escape our severe punishment in any part of the globe."