"We will strengthen our self-defense power, centered on nuclear forces, without limitation," KCNA reported quoting Kim as saying.
In a two-day gathering of battalion commanders and other military leaders in Pyongyang last week, the first such meeting in 10 years, Kim emphasized the need to bolster the country's nuclear arsenal as a deterrent against war.
He also condemned the U.S. for expanding its "military influence" around the world by "staging" a war against Russia through Ukraine.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff here said Monday that around 40 balloons were launched in the early morning hours, with about half of them falling in the Seoul metropolitan area.
Since late May, North Korea has launched such balloons on more than 30 occasions in retaliation against propaganda leaflets sent by activists as well as North Korean defectors in the South.
Kim's younger sister, Yo-jong, warned the South with belligerent rhetoric the previous day, claiming that South Korean leaflets had crossed into the North and threatening that South Korea would "pay a dear price" for such provocations.
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