Key Points
North Korea rejects US missile threat accusations
Condemns joint military drills with South Korea
Claims self-defense as sovereign right
Tensions rise on Korean Peninsula
"The DPRK's bolstering of its self-defensive capabilities is an essential requirement for deterring rivals' ever-increasing various provocative attempts and ensuring the security of the state," read a press statement of Pyongyang's defence policy chief, Yonhap news agency reported quoting the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
DPRK is the acronym of the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
The statement was released a day after the commander of the US Northern Command, General Gregory Guillot, said before the US Senate Armed Services Committee that the North's newest Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) could pose a direct threat to the US mainland and overwhelm its defences.
Guillot said Pyongyang may be moving towards producing new ICBMs capable of striking North America.
Pyongyang's defence official slammed the US General's remarks, accusing the US of falsely charging North Korea of making "threats" that are "non-existent."
"The US describing this as a 'threat' only proves that it is hostile to the DPRK," the official said, noting the US is trying to justify its "adventurous military ambitions."
"It is just self-defensive right of a sovereign state to steadily develop the self-defence capability," he added.
"The armed forces of the DPRK will as ever fully deter and control all kinds of challenges and threats from its rival countries by dint of powerful self-defence capability and faithfully discharge their mission for reliably defending peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in the region."
The North's defence policy chief also accused the US of building a missile defence system aimed at preemptively attacking other countries and weaponising outer space.
He also condemned the US nuclear submarine's recent trip to the Korean Peninsula and information sharing among Seoul, Washington and Tokyo, as well as Seoul's plan to hold joint military and space-related drills with the US.
