North Korea has strongly condemned the United States and its allies following this week’s NATO summit, accusing the alliance of intensifying military confrontation and accelerating global arms buildups. In a statement carried by state-run KCNA, Pyongyang claimed NATO leaders unfairly portrayed North Korea’s legitimate sovereign activities as a threat while expanding their own military capabilities.
The criticism comes after NATO members announced more than 50 billion dollars in military procurement and industrial agreements during the summit in Turkey. The alliance has also faced continued calls from U.S. President Donald Trump for European members to increase their defence spending and share a greater portion of NATO’s security responsibilities.
North Korea argued that NATO has become an organisation focused on war and geopolitical rivalry rather than promoting peace and stability in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. Pyongyang also reiterated that it no longer considers denuclearisation talks with the West to be a viable option.
Instead, North Korea insisted that any denuclearisation efforts should first address what it described as the nuclear ambitions of South Korea and Japan under the U.S. security umbrella, as well as NATO’s nuclear-sharing arrangements.
The statement came a day after KCNA reported that North Korea had decided to strengthen its nuclear forces both quantitatively and qualitatively, as leader Kim Jong Un continues to push for the modernisation of the country’s military.