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SEOUL, Aug. 12 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has denounced South Korea's efforts to build a nuclear-powered submarine, calling it a step toward "nuclear armament," and warned of "unparalleled power" to neutralize threats, Pyongyang's state media said Wednesday.

In a commentary carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Jang Kum-chol, first vice minister of North Korea's foreign ministry, said that Seoul's goal was "to secure the right to produce nuclear materials, free from the restraint of the item on reprocessing nuclear waste fuel and prohibiting uranium enrichment, and ultimately pave the way for making a leap forward to nuclear armament."

He warned Seoul's nuclear cooperation with Washington on nuclear submarine development will further destabilize the Korean Peninsula and pose a grave challenge to North Korea's security and maritime sovereignty.

"The possession of the unparalleled power capable of neutralizing all sorts of existing or newly-emerging potential threats and responding to any military attempt of the enemy states to provoke the strategic sovereignty security of our state with the retaliatory attack which make them impossible to survive and revive will be the most responsible option for deterring a war," he said.

South Korea unveiled a program in May, called the Jang Bogo N program, to develop and build its first nuclear-propelled submarines, as part of its drive to better deter regional threats, including those posed by North Korea.

Washington gave Seoul the green light for the project, and the two sides have launched preliminary talks to build upon the security agreement reached between their leaders at an October summit last year.

Seoul has set the goal of launching the first vessel by the mid-2030s, with the submarine entering operational service by the late 2030s.

jaeyeon.woo@yna.co.kr

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