N. Korea defends its stepped-up military measures at intl. forum

North Korea has defended its measures to bolster military capabilities as a just exercise of the sovereign right against Washington-led military confrontations at the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Uganda, state media reported Monday.

North Korea claimed it has recently conducted a test of an underwater nuclear attack drone, named the Haeil-5-23, in the East Sea in response to the latest joint naval drills involving South Korea, the United States and Japan. The drills came after North Korea's launch of a solid-fuel hypersonic missile on Jan. 14.

North Korea's chief delegate, Kim Son-kyong, said his country has been bolstering defense capabilities in response to "dangerous military moves" by the US and its allies, and the move is the just exercise of the country's sovereign right.

"The phenomenon that a sovereign country's rights to independence, life and development are being seriously threatened is evidently focused on the Korean Peninsula," Kim claimed at the NAM summit held between Friday and Saturday in Kampala, according to the Korean Central News Agency.

The North's vice foreign minister for international organizations said North Korea's struggle to defend its sovereign right fully matches the ideology of the NAM, which rejects any forms of infringement on a country's sovereign right and an intervention in internal affairs, according to the KCNA.

The NAM is a forum of 120 countries not aligned with any major power bloc. North Korea's late founder Kim Il-sung actively took part in the nonaligned movement against imperialism in the late 20th century.

At a year-end party meeting, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un vowed to strengthen solidarity with "independent, anti-imperialist" countries standing against the US.

Seoul's unification ministry condemned North Korea's nuclear and missile development as an act that violates multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions.

On the sidelines of the NAM summit, the North's vice foreign minister held talks with Sergei Aleinik, Belarus' foreign minister, to discuss ways to deepen bilateral cooperation, according to the European nation's foreign ministry.

Belarus has been supportive of Russia over its war with Ukraine. North Korea is suspected of having supplied arms to Russia for the war while seeking technological assistance from Moscow for Pyongyang's weapons programs.

Details of the North Korea-Belarus talks are not available, but observers said they may have discussed North Korea's possible dispatch of its workers to Belarus or potential three-way cooperation also involving Russia.

South Korea's ministry in charge of inter-Korean affairs emphasized that the international community is taking close tabs on deepening military cooperation between North Korea and Russia.

"I'd like to say once again that Russia, in particular, has a bigger responsibility as a permanent member of the UNSC (for enforcing UN resolutions against the North)," Koo Byoung-sam, ministry spokesperson, told a press briefing. (Yonhap)