North Korea's leader says military to expand powers

SEOUL, South Korea -- Three days after President Bush said North Korea was part of an "axis of evil," leader Kim Jong Il said his regime may increase the capabilities of the world's fifth-largest army to prevent an invasion.

While inspecting a unit of the communist state's People's Army Friday, Kim said the military was "weathering out the raging wind raised by imperialists."

He also suggested his regime may increase its military capabilities in remarks carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, monitored in Seoul on Saturday.

"No force on earth can overpower these great forces firmly determined not to allow any aggressors to dare invade the inviolable territory of our country but wipe them out to the last one at the risk of their lives," KCNA quoted Kim as saying.

These were the first reported comments from Kim since Bush's State of the Union speech Tuesday. In the speech, Bush said North Korea, Iran and Iraq formed an "axis of evil."