According to the Rodong Sinmun newspaper, the allocated amount of funding is due to be spent on measures to resist aggressive military provocations by enemy forces and develop tools for a military attack, including a nuclear one.
North Korea's state budget saw a 5.6-percent raise compared to 2015, mainly due to increased funding plans on the needs of industry, science, technology and education, the newspaper reported.
Pyongyang declared itself a nuclear power in 2005, and tested its first nuclear weapon the following year. The six-party denuclearization talks came to a halt in 2009, when Pyongyang tested its second nuclear weapon, and have been stalled ever since.
In early January, Pyongyang said that it had successfully tested a hydrogen bomb. The following month, North Korea fired a long-range rocket to allegedly place a satellite into orbit in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions.
