North Korea yesterday threatened to strengthen its "nuclear deterrent force" to cope with alleged aerial espionage by the US and its plans to deploy a destroyer in waters off the Korean Peninsula later this year.
The North's official KCNA news agency, citing unnamed military sources, accused the US of conducting over 220 spy flights against the communist state last month.
"Such aerial espionage frantically committed by the US imperialists with the whole area of South Korea as an operation theater clearly proves how urgent our strengthening of self-defensive nuclear deterrent force is," KCNA said.
North Korea regularly makes such accusations. The US military does not comment on the claims on spy flights, although it acknowledges monitoring North Korean military activity.
The allegation came a day after a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman condemned a US plan to deploy a destroyer, fitted with sophisticated surveillance equipment, in Japanese waters off the Korean Peninsula in September as part of a ballistic missile defense system.
The unidentified spokesman, quoted by KCNA, slammed the move as "the most outright hostile act" against the North.
North Korea "will increase its nuclear deterrent force in every way and take a decisive countermeasure for self-defense when necessary in order to avert a war and defend peace in the Korean Peninsula and the rest of Northeast Asia," he said.
The spokesman did not elaborate on what countermeasures it might take, but the communist state has previously threatened to boost its nuclear arsenal in "quality and quantity."
US officials believe that the North already has one or two nuclear bombs and can produce several more within months by extracting weapons-grade plutonium from its 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods.
Washington also accuses Pyongyang of running a uranium-enrichment program to develop atomic weapons. The North denies having a uranium program in addition to the publicly known plutonium-based facilities.
North Korea often escalates harsh rhetoric as part of its brinkmanship tactics in attempts to extract concessions in crucial negotiations.
The US, the two Koreas, China, Japan and Russia are trying to convene before July a third round of talks aimed at persuading the North to abandon its nuclear weapons development. Two previous meetings have ended without much progress due to contention between North Korea and the US.
North Korea says it will allow inspections and dismantle its nuclear facilities only if the US provides economic aid and written guarantees that US forces will not invade.
It also insists that it will keep a nuclear program for power generation.
Washington demands that North Korea first dismantle all its nuclear facilities, saying it previously broke an international agreement not to develop nuclear weapons in return for oil and other economic aid.
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