Foreign Ministers from the G-8 group of nations have condemned in the strongest possible terms North Korea's nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes.

But they did not announce any concrete measures to address Pyongyang's provocations during a meeting in London yesterday.

A Pentagon spy report concluded, with moderate confidence, that North Korea has the capability to launch nuclear-armed missiles. But their reliability will be low.

Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama has said, it is time for the North Korean leadership to end its belligerent approach and observe basic rules and norms of the international community.

Obama made these remarks after his meeting with the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, at the White House.