North Korea pledged to continuously strengthen its nuclear deterrence, while denouncing the arrival of a US nuclear-powered submarine to South Korea. The official North Korean Central News Agency quoted Kim Yo-jong, the sister of the North Korean leader, as saying in a statement that "Pyongyang's nuclear deterrence capabilities must be continuously and unlimitedly strengthened to confront and contain various threats from abroad in terms of quantity and quality, because the security of the state is constantly exposed to the threat and nuclear blackmail of the United States." It added: "US strategic assets will never find a place to rest in the Korean Peninsula region," stressing that such nuclear-powered submarines "will never be a source of fear." This comes after the arrival of the 7,800-ton American submarine USS Vermont to a major naval base in Busan, 320 kilometers southeast of the South Korean capital, Seoul. Source: National Iraqi News Agency