N. Korea says it will bolster nuke program

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060726/...huBHNlYwNtdHM-

By KWANG-TAE KIM, Associated Press Writer Wed Jul 26, 1:36 PM ET

SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea's defense minister said his country will strengthen its nuclear weapons program in response to U.N. sanctions and American hostility, the North's official news agency reported Wednesday.

North Korea will upgrade its arsenal "in every way by employing all possible means and methods" and will greet any aggressors with "all-out do-or-die resistance and unprecedented devastating strikes," Kim Il Chol said, according to the Korean Central News Agency.

Kim said such a move is necessary to counter the United States' "extremely hostile act and the irresponsibility of the U.N. Security Council."

Kim spoke at a gathering to mark the 53rd anniversary of the armistice agreement that ended the Korean War.

North Korea fired seven missiles in early July, including at least one believed capable of reaching the U.S. mainland. International condemnation prompted the Security Council to adopt a resolution sanctioning North Korea and banning member states from missile-related dealings with the communist country.

The defense minister warned that the U.N. resolution will not force Pyongyang to give up its nuclear program. North Korea "can survive without sweets, but not without bullets," he said.

Separately, a South Korean civic group said the North is readying its forces for conflict.

Artillery units have been armed and civilian forces, composed of laborers and farmers, have been outfitted with uniforms, the Seoul-based Good Friends group said in a statement Wednesday.

Drills are being held for both active duty and civilian forces, and civilians have been issued vehicles covered with camouflage netting, Good Friends said without citing sources for its information.

Previous reports by the South Korean group of activities in the isolated North later were confirmed. But a spokesman for South Korea's Unification Ministry dismissed the report.