North Korea blames US for regional tensions

Pyongyang, Oct 12: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un blamed the United States for hostile policies on Tuesday and said his country is boosting its military capabilities to protect national sovereignty.

Kim accused the US of being the "root cause" of instability on the Korean Peninsula. He said there was no reason to believe that Washington is anything other than "hostile" in its approach towards Pyongyang.

"We are not discussing war with anyone, but rather to prevent war itself and to literally increase war deterrence for the protection of national sovereignty," he said at a defense exhibition amid reports that the country recently tested a hypersonic missile.

While US President Joe Biden"s administration has maintained that it has no hostile intent towards the country, Kim told the Defence Development Exhibition: "I am very curious if there are people or countries who believe that."

Kim"s latest remarks came as he stood in front of a range of weapons, including a Hwasong-16 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), photos in a local newspaper showed. North Korea's largest ICBM, the Hwasong-16, was unveiled at a military parade late last year, but it is yet to be test-fired.

wd/jsi (Reuters, AFP)

Source: DW