▲ Kim Son-kyong (L), North Korea's vice foreign minister for international organizations, departs Pyongyang to attend the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Uganda, in this undated photo captured from the website of the North's official Korean Central News Agency. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

N Korea-nonaligned movement

N. Korea defends its stepped-up military measures at int'l forum

SEOUL, Jan. 22 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has defended its measures to bolster military capabilities as a just exercise of the sovereign right against Washington-led military confrontations at the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in Uganda, state media reported Monday.

North Korea has recently conducted a test of an underwater nuclear attack drone, named the Haeil-5-23, in the East Sea in response to the latest joint naval drills involving South Korea, the United States and Japan. The drills came after North Korea's launch of a solid-fuel hypersonic missile on Jan. 14.

North Korea's chief delegate, Kim Son-kyong, said his country has been bolstering defense capabilities in response to "dangerous military moves" by the United States and its allies, and the move is the just exercise of the country's sovereign right.

"The phenomenon that a sovereign country's rights to independence, life and development are being seriously threatened is evidently focused on the Korean Peninsula," Kim claimed at the NAM summit held between Friday and Saturday in Kampala, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

The North's vice foreign minister for international organizations said North Korea's struggle to defend its sovereign right fully matches the ideology of the NAM, which rejects any forms of infringement on a country's sovereign right and an intervention in internal affairs, according to the KCNA.

The NAM is a forum of 120 countries not aligned with any major power bloc. North Korea's late founder Kim Il-sung actively took part in the nonaligned movement against imperialism in the late 20th century.

At a year-end party meeting, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un vowed to strengthen solidarity with "independent, anti-imperialist" countries standing against the U.S.

On the sidelines of the NAM summit, the North's Vice Foreign Minister Kim held talks with Sergei Aleinik, Belarus' foreign minister, to discuss ways to deepen bilateral cooperation, according to the European nation's foreign ministry.

Belarus has been supportive of Russia over its war with Ukraine. North Korea is suspected of having supplied arms to Russia for the war while seeking technological assistance from Moscow for Pyongyang's weapons programs.

Details of the North Korea-Belarus talks are not available, but observers said they may have discussed North Korea's possible dispatch of its workers to Belarus or potential three-way cooperation also involving Russia.

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