North Korea condemned the United ​States and its allies on Saturday for what it called strengthening military ‌blocs and accelerating arms buildups after a NATO summit this week.

Pyongyang accused NATO leaders of portraying North Korea's exercise of its legitimate sovereign rights as a threat, the foreign ministry said in ​a statement carried on state media KCNA.

The alliance demonstrated a stronger commitment to ​bloc-to-bloc confrontation through increased arms spending and closer military cooperation with ⁠allies in the Asia-Pacific region, the ministry said.

At the NATO summit in Turkey ​on Tuesday, officials announced more than $50 billion in military procurement and industrial agreements as ​European allies face continued pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump to shoulder a greater share of the alliance's defence burden.

President Lee Jae Myung of Pyongyang's rival South Korea said on the sidelines ​of the summit that he hoped Seoul would expand cooperation with NATO allies in research ​and development, including in cutting-edge technologies, and in production of weapons systems.

North Korea said the summit ‌showed ⁠that NATO was a body geared towards war and confrontation, pursuing what Pyongyang described as exclusive geopolitical interests at the expense of peace and security in Europe and the Asia-Pacific.

Pyongyang, which says a push by the West for it to abandon nuclear ​weapons has been ​irreversibly terminated, believes ⁠instead that denuclearisation efforts should focus first on what it described as attempts by South Korea and Japan to pursue their ​own nuclear weapons under U.S. protection, as well as the nuclear ​ambitions of ⁠NATO members participating in the alliance's nuclear-sharing arrangements, the ministry said.

It said North Korea would safeguard its sovereignty and security interests, as well as regional peace, through the ⁠responsible exercise ​of its sovereign rights.

-Reuters