FILE PHOTO: A North Korean flag flutters at the propaganda village of Gijungdong in North Korea, in this picture taken near the truce village of Panmunjom inside the demilitarized zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas, South Korea, July 19, 2022. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji/Pool/File Photo
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea said on Saturday that the United States should abandon military threats if it has concerns about its mainland safety, state media KCNA reported, citing an official at North Korea's defence ministry.
The KCNA report cited the head of U.S. Northern Command recently commenting on North Korea's intercontinental ballistic missiles' (ICBMs) capability of reaching the U.S. mainland.
The report said it was the United States that was engaging in confrontational behaviour such as planning war exercises with South Korea and sending a nuclear submarine to the Korean Peninsula.
It is North Korea's sovereign right to improve its self-defence power, the report added.
(Reporting by Joyce Lee; Editing by Stephen Coates)
