North Korea condemns US approval of sale of missiles to South Korea — report

SEOUL- North Korea's foreign ministry condemned a U.S. decision to approve the sale of advanced air-to-air missiles and related equipment to South Korea, warning the move would worsen tensions on the Korean peninsula, state media KCNA said on Saturday.

The ministry's director-general for external policy said in a statement carried by KCNA that military cooperation between Washington and Seoul was being "systematically strengthened" despite what it called international concern over rising tensions in and around the peninsula.

The official cited the U.S. State Department's approval of a nearly $300 million foreign military sale of advanced air-to-air missiles and related equipment to South Korea as the latest example.

"U.S. arms exports are war exports," the official said, adding that North Korea would continue strengthening its self-defensive deterrent to maintain the regional balance of power.

North Korea routinely criticises U.S.-South Korea military cooperation as preparation for war.

It separately criticised South Korea's President Lee Jae Myung over a joint statement with European Union leaders during a visit to Europe, which described North Korea's status as a nuclear weapons state and its military cooperation with Russia as "illegal", KCNA said on Saturday.

KCNA said it was a violation of North Korea's sovereignty, South Korea had shown there could be no "peaceful coexistence" between the two Koreas and that Pyongyang would continue to regard the South as a hostile state.

-Reporting by Joyce Lee; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani and Emelia Sithole-Matarise/Reuters