N Korea blames US, Japan, South Korea for tensions in region; vows to bolster nuke forces

Seoul [South Korea], February 9 (ANI): North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, whom American President Donald Trump says he shares a good relationship with, has blamed the United States, Japan and South Korea for escalating tensions in the region, saying the allies' military cooperation has destabilized the security environment, as per state media of the nuclear-armed country.
In his speech during his visit to North Korea's Ministry of National Defence, Kim referred to a series of new plans for bolstering "all deterrences" and reaffirmed the country's "unshakable policy of more highly developing the nuclear forces," Yonhap reported citing the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
Further, the North Korean leader criticizdc the United States for "standing in the centre behind the scene of the war machine," Japanese news outlet Kyodo report cited KCNA.
US nuclear strategic assets deployed on the Korean Peninsula, the US-led nuclear war simulation exercises and the US-Japan-South Korea military cooperation are "inviting military imbalance" on the peninsula and in Northeast Asia, causing "a new conflicting structure" and posing a grave challenge to North Korea, Kim was quoted as saying.
While stressing the need for vigilance against the trilateral "military alliance," Kim also voiced concern that their collaboration could bring about the formation of a "NATO of Asian version," the Korean news agency further said.
The development came after the first in-person summit between Donald Trump and the Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba in Washington on February 7.
Kim also blamed the US for the Russia-Ukraine war, expressing "serious concern" that the US and Western countries are prolonging the war with the "unrealizable dream to deal strategic setbacks to Russia.
Notably, North Korea is an active participant in the war in Ukraine with having deployed over 11,000 troops to assist Russian President Vladimir Putin's war effort.
After White House released a statement saying that Washington will seek "complete denuclearization of North Korea," under Trump, North Korea said Saturday its nuclear weapons are not a "bargaining chip" but designed for combat use against any attempts by its enemies to invade the North, reaffirming its stance to further develop its nuclear arsenal.
Meanwhile, Trump said that the US "will have relations with North Korea" at a joint press conference with Japanese PM Shigeru Ishiba.
"We had a good relationship and I think it's a very big asset for everybody that I do get along with him. I get along with him, he gets along with me. And that's a good thing, not a bad thing," Trump said.
In his first term as US President, Trump had held two summit meetings with Kim in Singapore in June 2018 and a second summit in Hanoi, Vietnam in 2019. (ANI)