North Korea says don't 'expect any change' in nuclear policy in 2018

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un
(Image credit: AFP PHOTO/KCNA VIA KNS/Getty Images)

North Korea issued a report via state-run media Saturday warning the United States against expecting "any change" in Pyongyang's nuclear policy next year.

North Korea's "entity as an invincible power can neither be undermined nor be stamped out," the statement said with typical bombast, adding that North Korea, "as a responsible nuclear weapons state, will lead the trend of history to the only road of independence and justice, weathering all tempests on this planet."

The report included a timeline of nuclear advancements Pyongyang claims to have made in 2017, including alleged ability to strike the U.S. mainland. Defense Secretary James Mattis has said he does not believe Pyongyang has that capability. The Kim regime's current missile technology "has not yet shown to be a capable threat against us right now," he told reporters in early December, though the U.S. is "still examining the forensics."

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