Have 'right' to test weapons: North Korea to UN

"We are just building up our national defense in order to defend ourselves and reliably safeguard the security and peace of the country," Kim Song said in New York.

North Korea's ambassador told the UN General Assembly on Monday that "nobody can deny" the nuclear-armed country the right to test weapons.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (KCNA/AP)

"We are just building up our national defense in order to defend ourselves and reliably safeguard the security and peace of the country," Kim Song said in New York.

He took to the podium at the UN headquarters shortly after South Korea's military said the North had fired an "unidentified projectile" into the sea off its east coast.