North Korea says US-led arms buildup justifies expanding nuclear force

North Korea's vice defence minister said on Thursday that a growing U.S.-led military buildup and what he called an expanding nuclear alliance among Washington, Seoul and Tokyo justified Pyongyang's efforts to strengthen and expand its nuclear forces.



Speaking at the Beijing Xiangshan Forum, China's flagship international security conference, Vice Defence Minister Kim Kang Il said North Korea's status as a nuclear weapons state was irreversible and pledged to continue expanding its nuclear arsenal.



"The ceaseless nuclear arms buildup of the enemy states fully justifies the building of a solid nuclear shield of the DPRK," Kim said, using the acronym for North Korea's formal name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.



"As the enemy states' nuclear threat reaches the extreme level ... the DPRK will firmly defend the peace and stability in the Korean Peninsula and the region by ceaselessly expanding and strengthening its self-defensive nuclear deterrent."



Kim blamed tensions on the Korean Peninsula on what he called Washington's "invariable" hostile policy toward North Korea and accused the United States of turning trilateral cooperation with South Korea and Japan into a nuclear alliance.