(MENAFN) North Korean state media criticized a recent US-South Korea agreement allowing Seoul to develop its first fleet of nuclear-powered attack submarines, calling it a "declaration of confrontation."

"The fact that the US, ignoring the danger of a global nuclear arms race that would result from nuclear proliferation to non-nuclear states, approved South Korea's possession of nuclear submarines and then permitted uranium enrichment and spent fuel reprocessing, thereby laying the foundation for North Korea to rise to the status of a ‘quasi-nuclear power,’ clearly demonstrates the US's dangerous confrontational tactics," the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Tuesday.

KCNA said a joint fact sheet released by the White House after a meeting last month between US President Donald Trump and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung reinforced a policy of hostility and confrontation toward North Korea. It marked Pyongyang’s first reaction to the document released by Seoul and Washington on Friday, which the agency said shows the US and South Korea are pursuing “open confrontation” against the North.

Following North Korea’s response, South Korea’s presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung stated that Seoul has no "hostile" intent toward Pyongyang. "We will continue to work consistently toward easing inter-Korean tensions and rebuilding trust," Kang said.

During his visit to South Korea last month, Trump announced that his administration would share nuclear propulsion technologies to allow the South Korean navy to build at least one nuclear-powered submarine. South Korea's Defense Ministry later confirmed plans to launch a domestically built nuclear-powered submarine in the mid-to-late 2030s.

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