North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un called for his country to boost nuclear weapons production in a "new Cold War" with the United States.
Kim made the comments during a meeting of his country's parliament this week, the Korean Central News Agency reported. He said North Korea must play a larger part in a coalition with other nations against the United States.
Kim's comments came after he visited Russia this month, meeting with President Vladimir Putin.
Kim said that his nation must "push ahead with the work for exponentially boosting the production of nuclear weapons and diversifying the nuclear strike means."
Members of the parliament unanimously approved a constitutional amendment to "ensure the country’s right to existence and development, deter war, and protect regional and global peace by rapidly developing nuclear weapons to a higher level," according to KCNA.
The calls for increasing nuclear weapons production come as Kim paints the United States as an aggressive enemy, the Associated Press reported:
Kim pointed to what he described as a growing threat posed by a hostile United States and its expanding military cooperation with South Korea and Japan, accusing them of creating the "Asian version of NATO, the root cause of war and aggression."
"This is just the worst actual threat, not threatening rhetoric or an imaginary entity," he said.
Kim urged his diplomats to "further promote solidarity with the nations standing against the U.S. and the West’s strategy for hegemony."