N Korea vows boost to nuclear buildup, military intelligence

SEOUL, July 10: North Korea will strengthen its nuclear force "both in quality and quantity" and expand the role of its military intelligence agency focused on South Korea, state media said Friday.

Pyongyang is under widespread sanctions over its nuclear programme, and the two Koreas remain technically at war as their 1950-53 conflict ended without a peace treaty.

The announcement comes after North Korea has repeatedly spurned South Korean President Lee Jae Myung's dovish overtures, labelling Seoul its "most hostile" enemy and declaring itself an "irreversible" nuclear state.

The issues were discussed during an enlarged meeting of the ruling party's central military commission on Thursday, Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency said.

The meeting decided on measures such as "bolstering up the nuclear force both in quality and quantity", the report said.­�" AFP