Pyongyang, North Korea - North Korea denounced an agreement between the US and South Korea to build nuclear-powered submarines, claiming the deal would cause a "nuclear domino" effect.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung announced the finalization of a long-awaited security and trade agreement with the US last week, including plans to move forward with developing atomic-powered vessels.

Seoul said it had secured "support for expanding our authority over uranium enrichment and spent-fuel reprocessing".

In its first comments responding to the deal, the nuclear-armed North fired back, calling the submarine program a "dangerous attempt at confrontation."

The agreement is a "serious development that destabilizes the military security situation in the Asia-Pacific region beyond the Korean peninsula and causes the situation of impossible nuclear control in the global sphere," said the commentary carried by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Tuesday.

South Korea's possession of nuclear submarines "is bound to cause a 'nuclear domino phenomenon' in the region and spark a hot arms race", Pyongyang added, promising to "take more justified and realistic countermeasures."

North Korea's state media said in October that it had fired the ninth and final test of a ballistic engine, indicating that a full launch of a new ICBM could be conducted in coming months.

The commentary comes just a day after Seoul proposed military talks with Pyongyang to prevent border clashes, the first such offer in seven years.

President Lee has also offered to hold broader discussions with the North without preconditions, a sharp reversal from the hostile stance taken by his conservative predecessor.

In response to the commentary, South Korea's presidential office said the country had "no hostile intentions toward North Korea, contrary to the Korean Central News Agency opinion."

The agreement between South Korea and the United States was aimed at "protecting the nation and solidifying the security alliance between Korea and the United States", presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said.