North Korea condemns NATO summit, says denuclearisation should start with US allies

North Korea condemned the United States and its allies on Saturday for what it called strengthening military blocs and accelerating arms buildups after a NATO summit this week.

Pyongyang accused NATO leaders of portraying North Korea’s ‌exercise of its legitimate sovereign rights as a threat, the foreign ministry said in a statement carried on state media KCNA.

The alliance demonstrated a stronger commitment to bloc-to-bloc confrontation through increased arms spending and closer military cooperation with allies ‌in the Asia-Pacific region, the ministry said.

At the NATO summit in Turkey on Tuesday, officials announced more than $50 billion in military procurement and industrial agreements as European allies face continued pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump to shoulder a greater share of the alliance’s defence burden.

President Lee Jae Myung of Pyongyang’s rival South Korea said on the sidelines of the summit that he hoped Seoul would expand cooperation with NATO allies in research and development, including in cutting-edge technologies, and in production of weapons systems.

North Korea said the summit showed that NATO was a body geared towards war and confrontation, pursuing what Pyongyang ‌described as exclusive geopolitical interests at the expense of peace and security in Europe and the Asia-Pacific.

Reuters