North Korea says will strengthen nuclear deterrence

North Korea’s National Defense Commission (NDC) has announced that the country will continue efforts to strengthen its nuclear deterrence for ‘self-defense’ in the face of US threats.

The NDC, which is chaired by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, said in a Friday statement carried by Pyongyang state media that the North would make efforts “to bolster up its nuclear deterrence for self-defense.”

“And additional measures will be taken to demonstrate its might one after another as long as the US nuclear threat and blackmail persist as now,” the statement added.

The NDC statement also called on Washington to roll back its “worn-out hostile policy” towards North Korea as soon as possible and adopt “a new realistic policy before it is too late.”

“This would be beneficial not only to meeting the US interests but also to ensuring the security of its mainland.”

The statement comes as North Korea seeks a resumption of six-party talks on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

However, the United States and South Korea say Pyongyang must first commit to scraping its nuclear program.

The negotiations started in 2003 but were brought to a halt in 2009, when Pyongyang walked out in protest against a new round of UN sanctions following its nuclear tests.

In July 2013, North Korea said it would not relinquish its nuclear deterrence unless Washington ends its hostile policy toward Pyongyang and dissolves the US-led UN command in South Korea.

Established in 1953 at the end of the Korean War, the United Nations Command Military Armistice Commission (UNCMAC) is meant to supervise the implementation of Korean Armistice Agreement.

Pyongyang has also said that it is developing a nuclear arsenal in an effort to protect itself against threats from the US military, which occasionally deploys nuclear-powered warships and aircraft in the region.