North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has vowed to bolster the country's nuclear capabilities to deter any threats by enemies, saying it is steadily carrying out a policy to increase the number of nuclear weapons exponentially, state media said Tuesday.

Kim made the vow during a speech in a meeting with senior party and government officials on the occasion of the 76th founding anniversary of the regime, according to the Korean Central News Agency.

The North's leader delivered a speech for the first time on Sept. 9, since he assumed power in 2011, according to South Korea's unification ministry.

Kim used the speech to reiterated his pledge to bolster the county's nuclear force, saying the US-led move to expand a military bloc in the region has posed a grave security threat.

"The obvious conclusion is that the nuclear force of the DPRK and the posture capable of properly using it for ensuring the state's right to security in any time should be more thoroughly perfected," Kim said, using the acronym of the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

He said North Korea's military power will develop in an "accelerated and continued" manner, and he will not set a limit on attaining the goal.

"The DPRK will steadily strengthen its nuclear force capable of fully coping with any threatening acts imposed by its nuclear-armed rival states and redouble its measures and efforts to make all the armed forces of the state, including the nuclear force, fully ready for combat," Kim said.

At a year-end party meeting in 2022, the North's leader called for boosting the number of its nuclear arsenal exponentially and mass-producing tactical nuclear weapons. In September 2023, the country stipulated the policy of strengthening its nuclear force in the constitution.

Experts said North Korea may conduct major provocations in the run-up to the US presidential election in November in an attempt to increase its bargaining power for future negotiations.

Touching on the economy, Kim expressed his satisfaction about economic performances in the first half while calling for further efforts to attain the country's key economic goals this year.

"The overall crops have so far been well and it is possible to expect fair good harvests," Kim said.

He called for "unconditional and perfect implementation" of his signature policy of developing backward regions, a project to build modernized factories in 20 counties over the next decade.

In regard to the recovery from flood damage, the North's leader said the North has drawn up "prospective and irreversible" measures to prevent natural disasters in the future.

Heavy rains in late July flooded border areas along the Amnok River in the North Phyongan, Jagang and Ryanggang provinces. North Korea has not disclosed casualties, but South Korean media outlets estimated the number of those who died or went missing to be more than 1,000.

"We must finish the recovery from flood damage in a qualitative way within the fixed period and thus ensure a normal and stable life of the people in the flood-hit areas and put the damaged sectors of the national economy on their track so as to successfully complete the struggle with nature," he said.

The unification ministry said Kim's speech seems to be aimed at solacing public sentiments, aggravated by the flood damage, and pressing officials to produce major achievements before the end of the year.

"Kim called for recovery from the damage in a qualitative way in a fixed period of time, apparently to project an image of a leader overcoming the disaster," a ministry official told reporters on condition of anonymity.

North Korea appears to be skittish about the possibility that the flood damage could undermine the country's efforts to attain its key goals this year, according to Hong Min, a senior research fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification. (Yonhap)