UNITED NATIONS — A North Korean minister lashed out at the United States on Monday, warning that its “hostile” policy has left the Korean peninsula a spark away from a nuclear war.

Addressing the final session of the U.N. General Assembly’s annual high-level meeting, Vice Foreign Minister Pak Kil Yon said the Koreas have become “the world’s most dangerous hotspot” and pledged to use the North’s “mighty” military deterrent against any “reckless provocations.”