North Korean leadership on Tuesday warned South Korea and its major ally, the United States, that a joint nuclear submarine building venture between the two would cause a nuclear domino effect in the region.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung announced the finalisation of a long-awaited security and trade agreement with the United States last week.
Seoul confirmed that it had secured “support for expanding our authority over uranium enrichment and spent-fuel reprocessing".
In its first official response, Pyongyang said that the nuclear-powered submarine programme was a "dangerous attempt at confrontation". The official statement said the agreement is a "serious development that destabilises the military security situation in the Asia-Pacific region beyond the Korean peninsula and causes the situation of impossible nuclear control in the global sphere."
South Korea having nuclear subs completely shifts the military advantage in favour of Seoul. North, on the other hand, has threatened to carry out more nuclear tests to counter the possible threat.
Nuclear-powered submarines can remain underwater forever without having to come up for fuel and oxygen supplies, gaining a massive edge over conventional diesel-electric submarines.
The comments come just a day after Seoul proposed military talks with Pyongyang to prevent border clashes, the first such offer in seven years.
The move is likely to negatively affect the prospects for holding inter-Korean military talks.
Meanwhile, the hostilities between the two sides have also worried Beijing. While expressing concern over the joint production of the nuclear submarines, Beijing's ambassador to Seoul said, "It is a threat to regional stability, having broader implications for the wider region."
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