By Hyonhee ShinSEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea's nuclear programme is a self-defensive move to head off a nuclear war in the face of the U.S. pursuit of "nuclear supremacy," state media KCNA said on Tuesday.
The comments come as nuclear-armed North Korea has raised alarm in the region with regular launches of missiles, including intercontinental ballistic missiles that can strike the continental United States.
"The U.S., the world's biggest nuclear weapons state and the world's first nuclear user which adopted the preemptive nuclear attack on other countries as its national policy, is talking about 'nuclear threat' from someone.
"The reality urgently requires the DPRK, which is standing in confrontation with the U.S. imperialism, the most aggressive nuclear war criminal force, to bolster up its self-defensive military capabilities for deterring a nuclear war," Kim said.
DPRK, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, is North Korea's official name.
Persons:
Shin, KCNA, Kim Kwang Myong, Kim, Washington, Kim Tong Myong, nukes, Hyonhee Shin, Sonali Paul
Organizations:
Foreign Ministry's Institute for Disarmament, Peace, U.S, Strategic, North, DPRK, Democratic People's, Society for International Politics
Locations:
Shin SEOUL, U.S, North Korea, United States, Russia, China, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North, Europe