Article Posted on : - Sep 21, 2010

A file photo.

SEOUL (AFP): North Korea denounced South Korea and the United States Tuesday for planning anti-submarine drills in the Yellow Sea, describing them as a "nuclear war rehearsal".

South Korea and the United States had planned a joint naval exercise from September 5 to 9 but it was delayed due to a typhoon.

Military officials were not available for comment but Yonhap news agency said the exercise would begin as early as next week.

Rodong Sinmun, the North's ruling party newspaper, accused the United States of mobilising a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier "to make the joint military exercises a nuclear war rehearsal".

"A serious situation, in which an all-out war may break out by any accident, is now prevailing in the Korean peninsula," it said.

"However, the US war maniacs are ceaselessly beefing up armed forces and staging war games in this acute hotspot, which may drive the situation to an unpredictable grave phase."

The North's army and people "can never remain an onlooker", the newspaper said, adding they would "go all-out to display the stamina of (North Korea) if the enemies dare provoke".

Relations soured dramatically this year after the South accused the North of torpedoing one of its warships and killing 46 sailors in March. The North denied involvement and threatened retaliation.