N Korea’s Kim says US, S Korea threaten peace with arms buildup

North Korean leader says Pyongyang is only increasing its military as ‘war deterrence’ and not to start a conflict.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has said his country’s weapons development is necessary in the face of ‘hostile’ policies from the United States and a military buildup in South Korea that is destabilising the peninsula, state media reported.

Pyongyang was only increasing its military in self-defence and not to start a war, Kim said in a speech at the Defence Development Exhibition, according to a report on Tuesday by state news agency KCNA.

“The United States has been frequently signalling that it’s not hostile to our country, but there has been no behavioural ground to believe that it is not,” Kim was quoted as saying by KCNA.