(MENAFN) North Korea’s state-run media sharply criticized a recent pact between the United States and South Korea, which will enable Seoul to develop its first fleet of nuclear-powered attack submarines, labeling 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," a news agency stated on Tuesday.

The news agency further criticized a joint fact sheet issued by the White House after last month’s meeting in South Korea between US President Donald Trump and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, saying it reinforced a policy of hostility and confrontation toward North Korea.

This marked Pyongyang’s first response to the document released jointly by Seoul and Washington on Friday.

The report emphasized that the agreement clearly reflects the US and South Korean governments’ pursuit of “open confrontation” against North Korea.

In response to North Korea’s statements, South Korean presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung asserted that Seoul harbors no "hostile" intentions toward Pyongyang.

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