Seoul: On Monday, North Korea condemned what it called an American move to station a nuclear-armed submarine near the Korean peninsula, claiming that this would heighten the risk of a nuclear exchange.

In a statement carried by the official KCNA news agency, North Korea claimed that US reconnaissance aircraft recently violated its airspace near the east coast. It cited an unnamed Ministry of National Defence spokesperson for this claim.

A US air force strategic reconnaissance plane being shot down over the East Sea is a shocking incident that could still occur, the spokesperson said.

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In the past, the North has shot down or intercepted US aircraft off the coast of South Korea and at its border with North Korea, according to the statement. US surveillance flights over the Korean Peninsula have drawn frequent criticism from North Korea.

According to KCNA, the United States' efforts to bring strategic nuclear weapons to the Korean peninsula amount to blatant nuclear blackmail of North Korea and other nearby nations and pose a serious threat to world peace.

The United States will be held fully accountable if any unexpected situation arises, it said. "It is up to future US actions whether an extreme situation arises in the Korean peninsula region that nobody wants."

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Last month, a US cruise missile submarine with nuclear propulsion docked in the port of Busan, South Korea.

A US Navy nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarine will visit South Korea for the first time since the 1980s, as agreed by the leaders of South Korea and the United States in April, though no specific date has been announced for the visit.

As agreed upon by the two leaders, it was a component of a strategy to increase the deployment of American strategic assets aimed at a more effective response to North Korea's threats and weapons tests in defence of its ally South Korea.

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The decision to send nuclear submarines on the open seas has produced a "very dangerous situation that makes it impossible for us not to realistically accept the worst-case scenario of a nuclear confrontation," according to a North Korean statement.
A US B-52 strategic bomber participated in joint military exercises with South Korea in June as a show of force in response to North Korea's aborted spy satellite launch at the end of May.