North Korea has criticized a new security agreement between the United States, Britain, and Australia, saying it could cause "countries to rush to defend themselves with nuclear weapons."
A foreign ministry official said the Aukus agreement "would undermine strategic equality in the Asia-Pacific region."
The agreement will involve the United States and the United Kingdom in providing Australian technology to build nuclear submarines.
It is widely regarded as an effort to counter China's influence in the disputed South China Sea.
The Aukus deal was announced last week and will also include ship missiles, artificial intelligence, and other technologies.
"These are inappropriate and dangerous actions that will undermine strategic equality in the Asia-Pacific region and cause every country to resort to nuclear weapons," said a DPRK foreign ministry official referring to the security agreement.
Last week, North Korea conducted two major weapons tests - a long-range missile and a ballistic missile.
China has also criticized the agreement and Beijing Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said the alliance was "risking to" completely destroy the peace of the region ... and intensify its nuclear defense efforts. "
Pyongyang said it was "quite common for neighboring countries [like] China to condemn these acts as irresponsible for destroying the peace and stability of the region."
The aim of the agreement is to see the United States share its submarine technology for the first time in 60 years, previously if it only involved Britain once.
Which countries have submarines?
It means Australia will be able to build powerful nuclear submarines that are much faster and harder to detect than conventional ships.
They could stay in the water for several months and detonate long-range missiles - although Australia says it has no intention of placing nuclear weapons in it.
China was not mentioned directly during the announcement of the security plan.
However, leaders of the three countries repeatedly mentioned regional security issues that "have grown significantly".
North Korea also referred to an earlier statement issued by France, which called the agreement "a betrayal," saying the agreement had led to "a major crisis" between the two parties.
France has been critical of the Aukus deal because it ended the $ 37bn (£ 27bn) agreement signed by Australia in 2016 for France to build 12 standard submarines.
France says it was notified of the agreement hours before the official announcement was made.
