SEOUL—North Korea ruled out talks for denuclearization, quashing hopes that Iran’s landmark accord with the U.S. and other world powers last week would inspire Pyongyang to follow suit. 
 
 North Korea called comparisons between the isolated state and Iran “illogical” and said it wasn’t interested in freezing or dismantling its nuclear program unilaterally, a foreign ministry spokesman said Tuesday. The country says it is developing nuclear weapons to fend off U.S. threats. 
 
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 North Korean leader Kim Jong Un provides field guidance to the Kim Jong Thae Electric Locomotive Complex in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang on July 20, 2015. 
 
 SEOUL North Korea is not interested in an Iran-like dialogue with the United States to give up its nuclear capabilities, the isolated country's foreign ministry said in a statement on Tuesday. 
 
 The statement said North Korea's nuclear program was an "essential deterrence" against U.S. foreign policy toward the reclusive country, which the North views as hostile. 
 
 "It is not logical to compare our situation with the Iranian nuclear agreement because we are always subjected to provocative U.S. military hostilities, including massive joint military exercises and a grave nuclear threat," said the statement, which was carried by state media but attributed to a foreign ministry spokesman. 
 
 "We do not have any interest at all on dialogue for unilaterally freezing or giving up our nukes," it said. 
 
 The United States and five world powers struck an historic deal with Iran last week that will limit Iran's nuclear capabilities in exchange for sanctions relief. 
 
 The Iran agreement was a great political victory for U.S. President Barack Obama, who has long promised to reach out to historic enemies, including North Korea. 
 
 The deal, in return for lifting U.S., EU and UN sanctions that have crippled its economy, stipulates that Iran must accept long-term limits on its nuclear program. 
 
 North Korea is also heavily sanctioned by the United States, European Union and the United Nations for procuring equipment related to its ongoing nuclear and ballistic missile programs. 
 
 "We are clearly a nuclear power and nuclear powers have their own interests," the North Korean statement said. 
 
 (Reporting by James Pearson and Seung Yun Oh; Editing by Paul Tait)
– US officials wondering whether the landmark nuclear deal with Iran would make North Korea reconsider its own nuclear program have their answer: Absolutely not. Though North Korea, like its ally Iran, is sanctioned by the US, EU, and UN, a foreign ministry rep for Pyongyang says its development of nuclear weapons serves to deflect US pressure and "we do not have any interest at all on dialogue for unilaterally freezing or giving up our nukes," per Reuters. "We are clearly a nuclear power and nuclear powers have their own interests." "It is not logical to compare our situation with the Iranian nuclear agreement because we are always subjected to provocative US military hostilities, including massive joint military exercises and a grave nuclear threat," the official continues. The US discussed North Korea giving up its nuclear programs in return for economic aid and security protections during talks in 2003, but they stalled in 2008. Pyongyang hasn't responded to US proposals in months, the Wall Street Journal reports. China guesses North Korea will have 20 nuclear warheads by the year's end.