The U.S. is reiterating that it will not recognize North Korea as a nuclear power.

The director of analysis at the U.S. National Intelligence Council, Mathew Burrows, told reporters in Washington on Wednesday that the North has the capability to produce nuclear weapons.

However, he stressed that there is no change in the U.S. stance that it will not recognize North Korea as a nuclear power.

Burrows said that the U.S. is keeping a close eye on the North due to the possibility that the communist country may export nuclear technology despite its 2007 promise not to transfer nuclear substances.