Washington (AFP) - The United States said Tuesday it remains open to talks with North Korea, despite leader Kim Jong-un's "provocations" by vowing to accelerate his country's nuclear activity.

US State Department spokesman Ned Price said, "We remain open to engaging in diplomacy and dialogue with North Korea" on ending its nuclear program.

"But we also have an obligation to deal with the recent provocations that we have seen from North Korea, including the recent launches of two intercontinental missiles," he told reporters.

And the US official considered that the speech that Kim made on Monday night during a military parade in Pyongyang confirms the validity of "our assessment that North Korea poses a threat to international peace and security and to the international order regarding the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons."

Kim pledged to work to "strengthen and develop" his country's nuclear arsenal, in a speech he delivered while attending a military parade in Pyongyang that included a display of intercontinental missiles, state media reported Tuesday.

Despite being subject to severe sanctions, North Korea has accelerated efforts to modernize its military capabilities, and conducted tests on banned weapons this year, ignoring US offers for talks, at a time when observers warned that the Stalinist regime might resume its nuclear tests.

In his speech, Kim said, "We will continue at the fastest pace to take steps to enhance and develop our country's nuclear capabilities."

He added, "Nuclear force, the symbol of our national strength and the core of our military power, should be strengthened in terms of quality and scale."

And while the North Korean leader stressed that "the primary mission of our nuclear weapons is deterrence, but our nuclear weapons cannot be limited to a single mission that is deterrence," he threatened that "if a force attempts to rob our country's basic interests, our nuclear power will have no other choice but to complete its second mission." .