North Korea has reiterated that its recent measures to strengthen defense capabilities are a sovereign exercise to respond to unstable security conditions created by the United States.

According to the state-run Korean Central News Agency(KCNA) on Monday, North Korean vice foreign minister Kim Son-Gyong made the remarks in a speech at the Non-Aligned Movement(NAM) Summit held in Uganda on Friday and Saturday.

In the speech, Kim said that although history has advanced since the organization’s founding, power-based coercion is rampant on the international stage as the sovereignty and right to survive for NAM states including North Korea are severely violated.

The vice minister claimed that North Korea's defense of its sovereign rights is completely consistent with the ideology of the non-alignment movement, which opposes the infringement on sovereignty and interference in internal affairs.

Kim said that the North will continue to attach importance to strengthening the role of the NAM in establishing a new international order based on independence and justice.

The NAM is a forum of some 120 countries not aligned with any major power bloc and dedicated to representing the interests of developing countries.

A delegation led by the vice foreign minister departed Pyongyang for Uganda on January 13 to attend the summit and will remain in the country to attend the third South Summit, the supreme decision-making body of the Group of 77 developing nations, set for Sunday to Tuesday.

[Photo : YONHAP News]