PYONGYANG, September 18 (HS/RIA Novosti): The destabilization caused by military exercises involving the United States, Japan and South Korea near the Korean Peninsula underscores the importance of upgrading North Korea's defence capability, Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and a department director within the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, said.

The North Korean armed forces will use all available means in case of a gross encroachment upon the country's supreme state interests, Kim Yo Jong said.

North Korea will continue to build up and strengthen its nuclear deterrent forces, and its status as a nuclear state is an indisputable reality, North Korean Deputy Defense Minister Kim Kang-il said.

Meanwhile, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung on Friday did not rule out the possibility of resuming dialogue between North Korea and the United States, urging efforts to bring it about.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Indrani Sarkar