ISTANBUL

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un Saturday urged a constant enhancing and upgrading to Pyongyang's "nuclear shield and sword" capable of reliably "defending the security of the sovereignty, interests and right to development" of the state, during his meeting with the nuclear scientists and technicians of the Nuclear Weapons Institute.

Pyongyang will prioritize giving "providing and supporting every possibility and condition to the nuclear technology field for its sustained development," Kim said, reported the state-run Korean Central News Agency.

Kim listened to a report on the implementation of the 2025 plan to increase the capacity of the nuclear material production field, it said.

Kim "declared that steadily evolving the state's nuclear response posture is an essential top priority task in view of the security environment of the Republic, the most right choice for the present and future of the state and an unchangeable duty that we must carry out."

On Thursday, South Korea’s Unification Minister Chung Dong-young claimed North Korea possessed up to 2,000 kilograms of highly enriched uranium.

Kim also told a parliamentary session earlier this week that there was “no reason to avoid dialogue with the US” if Washington dropped its demand for denuclearization.