In a statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), North Korea’s Foreign Ministry criticized NATO leaders for characterizing the country’s military activities as a threat, describing them instead as the legitimate exercise of its sovereign rights.

The ministry said the alliance had reinforced what it called bloc-to-bloc confrontation through higher military spending and closer security cooperation with partners in the Asia-Pacific region.

The remarks followed the NATO summit held in Turkiye on Tuesday, where officials announced more than $50 billion in military procurement and industrial agreements as European allies continued efforts to strengthen defense capabilities amid pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump to assume a greater share of the alliance’s security burden.

North Korea argued that the summit demonstrated NATO’s commitment to military confrontation rather than peace, accusing the alliance of pursuing exclusive geopolitical interests that undermine security in both Europe and the Asia-Pacific.

Pyongyang also rejected renewed international calls for it to abandon its nuclear weapons program, maintaining that such demands were no longer relevant. Instead, the Foreign Ministry said denuclearization discussions should first focus on what it described as nuclear ambitions by U.S. allies, including South Korea and Japan under the American nuclear umbrella, as well as NATO members participating in the alliance’s nuclear-sharing arrangements.

The statement reiterated that North Korea would continue safeguarding its sovereignty, security interests and regional stability through what it called the responsible exercise of its sovereign rights.

The comments came a day after KCNA reported that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had approved measures to strengthen the country’s nuclear forces both “quantitatively and qualitatively” as part of broader efforts to modernize the military.

The latest statement underscores Pyongyang’s continued refusal to consider unilateral nuclear disarmament, a position it has increasingly emphasized as tensions on the Korean Peninsula and in the wider Indo-Pacific region remain elevated.

Meanwhile, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, speaking on the sidelines of the NATO summit, said Seoul hoped to expand cooperation with NATO members in research and development, including advanced technologies and weapons production, reflecting growing defense ties between South Korea and the alliance.

Relations between North Korea and Western countries have remained strained over Pyongyang’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs, while the United States, South Korea and Japan have continued to strengthen trilateral security cooperation in response to North Korea’s military activities.