TOKYO: North Korea says improving its defenses is “an essential requirement” in the face of America’s “reckless arms expansion and increasing provocation.”

The head of North Korea’s Policy Office in the Ministry of Defense announced: “The strategic force of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is a defensive force to ensure national security and regional strategic balance. The United States describes this as a ‘threat’ only to confirm that they are hostile to us.”

The North says the United States is seeking to upgrade its nuclear force, adding that this not only threatens the Korean Peninsula, but the whole world. It criticized the visit of an American nuclear submarine to the South Korea port of Busan, as well as large-scale war exercises with South Korea.

“We express our serious concern at the confrontational actions of the US military that try to publicize the ‘threat’ of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea – which does not exist –and justify the adventurous military ambition of dominating the region.”

The North accused the US of planning pre-emptive attacks and looking to use “space militarization against other countries.” 

“If the United States has substantial concerns about the security of its own mainland, the only way to resolve it is to completely abandon military threats and hostile policies against autonomous sovereign states,” the statement said.

“Our military force will continue to rely on strong and powerful self-defense forces to thoroughly deter and manage all challenges and threats from enemy countries and faithfully fulfill our mission to firmly protect the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula and the region.”