PYONGYANG, North Korea, July 26 (UPI) -- North Korea's defense chief Wednesday vowed to "bolster its war deterrent" to cope with U.S. pressure over its missile launches.
Defense Minister Kim Il-Chol also said North Korea would not give up its missile development program, calling it a "sovereign right" to guard against outside military threats.
North Korea test-fired seven missiles on July 5, including a long-range ballistic weapon that could reach the continental United States, which has put the Asian-Pacific region alert. In response, the U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution criticizing the communist country's missile launches and U.S.-led allies are preparing for punitive measures.
"It is a stark reality in the DPRK (North Korea) that it can survive without sweets but not without bullets," Kim said in a statement issued to mark the anniversary ceremony on the 1953 Korean War armistice.
North Korea will "deal deadly blows at the enemies' moves for aggression with all-out do-or-die resistance and unprecedented devastating strikes," said the statement carried by the North's official Central News Agency.
Kim accused the United States and Japan of seeking to form an international alliance against the North.
"It was a sheer brigandish act for the United States to have used the U.N. arena for branding the DPRK's missile launches as 'a threat to the global peace and security' and got it to adopt a 'resolution' calling for international pressure aimed to force the DPRK to disarm itself and stifle it," he said.
