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

The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) quoted the Foreign Ministry as saying in a statement on Saturday 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 arms spending and strengthening military cooperation with allies in the Asia-Pacific region.

NATO leaders announced military and industrial procurement agreements worth over $50 billion, amid ongoing pressure from US President Donald Trump on European allies to bear a larger share of the alliance's defense burdens, during the summit held in Turkey last Tuesday.

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 primed for war and confrontation,' seeking to achieve what Pyongyang described as 'exclusive geopolitical interests' at the expense of peace and security in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.

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 insists on rejecting Western attempts to make it abandon nuclear weapons entirely, believes that denuclearization efforts should first focus on what it called attempts by South Korea and Japan to possess nuclear weapons under US protection, as well as the nuclear ambitions of NATO members participating in nuclear-sharing agreements, according to Reuters news agency.

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.