The North Korean nuclear program targets no other country than the US, Deputy of North Korea's Supreme People's Assembly and director of the National Reunification Institute Ri Jong-hyok was quoted as saying by the Yonhap news agency on Sunday.
"Our nuclear deterrence is a sword of justice aimed at fighting [the US] nuke and Asia and any country in the world need not worry about our threats as long as they do not join an invasion and provocations toward us," the official noted.
According to Ri, Pyongyang will step up its fight against what it called the US scheme of nuclear war and sanctions campaign.
"It is the Korean people's resolute decision that [North Korea] should face off the U.S. only with nuclear [weapons] to achieve the balance of power," Ri was quoted as saying by the North Korean Rodong Sinmun newspaper.
The top DPRK official delivered his speech at the Asian Parliamentary Assembly that was held in Turkey earlier this week.
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Tensions between North Korea and the US have further escalated recently, following a series of nuclear and missile tests conducted by Pyongyang as well as harsh rhetoric by Donald Trump targeting the country's leadership.
Following Donald Trump's visit to South Korea earlier this month, North Korea promised to continue developing its nuclear program "as long as imperialism, the root of evil and injustice, is left on Earth."
Most recently, Trump has decided to brand North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism in a move called by the DPRK state-run newspaper "an extra-large provocation, tantamount to another declaration of war against the DPRK."
