NORTH Korean leader Kim Jong Un said that an elevated United States military partnership with South Korea and Japan poses a grave threat to his country and vowed to further bolster his nuclear weapons programme, state media reported today.

In a speech marking the 77th founding anniversary of the Korean People’s Army on Saturday, Mr Kim said that the US-Japan-South Korea trilateral security partnership established under a US plot to form a Nato-like regional military bloc is inviting military imbalance on the Korean peninsula and “raising a grave challenge to the security environment of our state,” according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

“Referring to a series of new plans for rapidly bolstering all deterrence including nuclear forces, he clarified once again the unshakeable policy of more highly developing the nuclear forces,” KCNA said.