South Korea's ministry in charge of inter-Korean affairs said recognizing North Korea as a nuclear weapons state is a dream that will never come true.

Speaking to local reporters on Thursday, an official at the unification ministry said tolerating the North's possession of nuclear weapons would lead to a "nuclear domino effect" in Northeast Asia, ending the sustainability of the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

This comes in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin telling the RIA Novosti state news agency that Pyongyang possesses its own nuclear umbrella and has not made any requests to Moscow regarding nuclear weapons.

Asked about the communist regime possibly receiving practical recognition depending on the outcome of the U.S. presidential election, the official said while such a notion is hypothetical, accepting the North as a nuclear state would be unacceptable to the international community.

As for the assessment that Pyongyang limited its provocations during Seoul and Washington's latest annual joint drills compared to previous years, the official said the regime is expected to set the timing and scope of provocations according to its goals.