SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for expanding the country's war deterrence capabilities in a "more practical" way, state media said on Tuesday, to counter what it called "frantic" aggression by the United States and South Korea.
Pyongyang has opened the year with a flurry of weapons tests, including what state media has claimed are nuclear-capable underwater drones and the launch of two intercontinental ballistic missiles.
On Monday, Kim attended a meeting of the Central Military Commission to discuss ways to "cope with the escalating moves of the US and South Korea to unleash a war of aggression,"
Kim ordered that the country's deterrence capabilities be strengthened with "increasing speed" and in a "more practical and offensive" manner.
North Korea last year declared itself an "irreversible" nuclear power, effectively ending the possibility of denuclearisation talks.
In response, Washington and Seoul have intensified defence cooperation, staging joint military exercises with advanced stealth jets and high-profile US strategic assets.
North Korea views such exercises as rehearsals for invasion, and on Tuesday described them as "frantic" drills "simulating an all-out war against" Pyongyang.
South Korea on Tuesday also accused North Korea of being "irresponsible" after Pyongyang cut hotline contact with Seoul last week.
For five days, North Korea has not answered the twice-daily calls made through a military hotline and an inter-Korean liaison channel, South Korean Unification Minister Kwon Young-se told reporters. — AFP
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