Article Posted on : - Oct 10, 2012

SEOUL (AP): North Korea has warned that the US mainland is within range of its missiles, saying Washington's recent agreement to let Seoul possess missiles capable of hitting all of the North shows the allies are plotting to invade the country.

Seoul announced Sunday it reached a deal with Washington that would allow it to nearly triple the range of its missiles to better cope with North Korean missile and nuclear threats.

On Tuesday, North Korea called the South Korea-US missile deal a "product of another conspiracy of the master and the stooge" to "ignite a war" against the North.

An unidentified spokesman at the powerful National Defence Commission said the North will subsequently bolster its military preparedness and warned it has missiles capable of striking South Korea, Japan, Guam and the US mainland.

"We do not hide ... the strategic rocket forces are keeping within the scope of strike not only the bases of the puppet forces and the US imperialist aggression forces' bases in the inviolable land of Korea but also Japan, Guam and the US mainland," the spokesman said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.

It's unusual for the North to say its missiles are capable of striking the US but North Korea has regularly issued harsh rhetoric against Seoul and Washington.

Still, the North's statement could suggest the country has been working on miniaturising a nuclear bomb to mount on a long-range rocket, though experts believe the country has yet to acquire such a technology.

It could also back up what experts have been suspecting about the range of North Korean long-range rockets.

In April, the country conducted a rocket test that Washington, Seoul and others called a cover for a test of long-range missile technology. North Korea says the rocket, which broke apart shortly after liftoff, was meant to launch a satellite. North Korea conducted underground nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009.

Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korean studies professor based in Seoul, said the North had no choice but to respond to South Korea's extended missile range but it won't likely launch a provocation as it is waiting for the results of US and South Korean presidential elections.

South Korea's Defence Ministry said Tuesday it has no official comments on the North's statement, but Seoul and Washington have repeatedly said they have no intention of attacking North Korea.