A top North Korean military official has warned against what he described as "U.S. hostility" toward his country.

The North's official Korean Central News Agency reported that Kim Kyok-sik, who serves as general staff chief of the North's Korean People's Army, declared that a tense situation still prevails on the Korean Peninsula. He blamed the tension on "the U.S. persistent hostile policy" toward North Korea, accusing the United States of preparing for a pre-emptive strike with continued military exercises and what he said was a massive arms build-up in South Korea.

Kim made the remarks at a national meeting Friday to mark the 47th anniversary of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's start of "Songun," or "military-first revolutionary leadership."