North Korea says that if the United States takes the nuclear issue to the U-N Security Council, it will consider the move a declaration of war.

A North Korean foreign ministry spokesman made the statement in response to a question by a Korean Central News Agency reporter on Tuesday. The reporter had asked about North Korea's view regarding U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's remark over the possibility of referring the nuclear issue to the UNSC.

The spokesman also said Pyongyang needs the "right conditions and justification" in order to return to the six-party talks and demanded a U.S. apology for calling it an "outpost of tyranny."

Rice characterized the North as such, but has refused to apologize for "speaking the truth."

She later described the North as a "sovereign state" in an apparent attempt to appease the country, but the North has said the new designation does not amount to an apology.

The spokesman went on to say that the North has gone out of its way to establish a nuclear deterrent against the United States and said it will continue to take forceful actions against Washington's hard-line policies.