SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea needs a "powerful nuclear deterrence" to counter United States hostility and threats, the Foreign Ministry was quoted by the state news agency KCNA as saying on Tuesday (April 26).

"The US continued pursuance of extreme hostile policy and nuclear threat and blackmail against the DPRK will only make the latter make drastic progress in bolstering nuclear attack capabilities," KCNA quoted a ministry spokesman as saying.

It said the ministry was responding to what it described as Washington's ramping up of pressure against North Korea following its test last Saturday of submarine-launched ballistic missile.