North Korea on Saturday condemned the United States and NATO's move to strengthen military blocs and accelerate the arms race, following the alliance's summit held this week in Ankara.

The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) quoted the Foreign Ministry as saying in a statement that Pyongyang denounces NATO leaders for 'portraying North Korea's exercise of its legitimate sovereign rights as a threat.'

The ministry added that the alliance 'showed a stronger commitment to bloc confrontation' by increasing military spending and strengthening military cooperation with allies in the Asia-Pacific region.

At the summit held in Turkey last Tuesday, NATO leaders announced military and industrial procurement agreements worth over $50 billion, amid ongoing pressure by U.S. President Donald Trump on European allies to shoulder a larger share of the alliance's defense burden.

South Korean President Lee Jae-myung said on the sidelines of the summit that he hopes Seoul will expand cooperation with alliance members in research and development, including advanced technologies, and in the production of weapons systems.

North Korea said the summit showed that the alliance is a 'bloc prepared for war and confrontation' seeking what Pyongyang described as 'exclusive geopolitical interests' at the expense of peace and security in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.

Nuclear disarmament

The ministry said Pyongyang will protect its sovereignty and security interests, as well as regional peace, through the responsible exercise of its sovereign rights.

The North Korean Defense Ministry added that Pyongyang, which asserts that the West's efforts to abandon nuclear weapons have completely stopped, believes that nuclear disarmament efforts should first focus on what it described as South Korea and Japan's attempts to possess nuclear weapons under U.S. protection, as well as the nuclear ambitions of NATO members involved in nuclear-sharing agreements.

The Korean Central News Agency reported on Friday that North Korea decided to take measures to strengthen its nuclear forces 'quantitatively and qualitatively,' in response to leader Kim Jong Un's call to modernize its military.