North Korea has hit back at the Group of Seven nations following their condemnation of Pyongyang's repeated ballistic missile launches at a summit that ended on Tuesday.

The director-general of the Foreign Ministry's Department of International Organizations on Saturday issued a statement through the state-run Korean Central News Agency.

It came after G7 leaders said in a communique that they "strongly condemn" Pyongyang's "continued, unlawful testing of ballistic missiles." They demanded that the North "abandon its unlawful weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs."

The director-general called the G7 a small group of interests including the United States and Japan, and said North Korea has the right to protect its sovereignty from threats by the United States, which is the world's largest nuclear power and the destroyer of international peace and security.