North Korea slams Japan for criticizing its nuclear, missile programs

North Korea accused Japan of a "grave provocation" against its sovereign rights after Tokyo's annual Diplomatic Bluebook expressed serious concerns over Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs, state media reported Wednesday.

A sectoral chief of the Institute for Japan Studies, which is affiliated with the North Korean Foreign Ministry, issued the criticism Tuesday after Japan's Foreign Ministry described the North's continued nuclear and missile programs as "serious concerns" in the annual policy report released last week.

"I cannot overlook its move to say this or that about the DPRK's exercise of its right to legitimate self-defense, while dreaming of shaking the position of a nuclear weapons state specified in the Constitution of the DPRK," the statement said, according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

DPRK is short for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

"Japan termed the DPRK's measures for bolstering up its defense capabilities...'a grave and urgent threat' and 'a clear and serious challenge' and made an anachronistic and evasive assertion like 'complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement,'" the statement said.

It called the move a "grave provocation" that encroaches on North Korea's sovereign rights as well as its security and development interests, saying it reveals "deep-rooted hostility and confrontational intention" against the country.