SEOUL – The top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea has inspected strategic missile bases, calling for the country's strategic missile force to keep a counteraction posture in response to what he said “the ever-increasing threat by the United States”, state media reported on Wednesday.

Kim Jong-un, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and president of the State Affairs of the DPRK, examined the readiness for action of strategic deterrence directly connected with state security, including the functions and capabilities of missile-launching facilities in the missile bases and the strategic missile combat duty, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.

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The report did not specify the exact date of the inspection tour.

Noting that the strategic missile force is the "core force" of the country's war deterrence, Kim stressed an important principle of the national defense strategy of "technically modernizing the overall armed forces with the strategic missile force as a priority", according to the KCNA report.

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As the US strategic nuclear means pose an ever-increasing threat to the DPRK security, it is an urgent imperative for the country to "more definitely bolster its war deterrence and take a thorough and strict counteraction posture of the nuclear forces", KCNA quoted Kim as saying.

The DPRK leader also stressed the need to "further modernize and fortify the strategic missile bases and make all bases fully ready to keep thorough counteraction posture capable of promptly dealing a strategic counterblow to the enemies at any time and under any circumstances", said the report.