North Korea has accused the United States of conducting more than 180 aerial spying missions this month in preparation for a "surprise attack" on the communist country.

US reconnaisance planes, including U-2 and EP-3, flew "at least on 180 occasions in December" to spy on North Korea, the official Korean Central News Agency said quoting a military source.

"Such aerial espionage fully shows that the US imperialists are watching for a chance to make a surprise attack on the DPRK (North Korea) in a bid to stifle it by 'strength'," the agency said.

US military authorities here usually refuse to comment on allegations of aerial espionage, but maintain their operations in the region are defensive to thwart off North Korea's threats.

North Korea and the United States have been locked in a stand-off since October last year when Washington accused Pyongyang of running a banned nuclear program based on enriched uranium.

Six-nation talks brought toghether the two Cold-War foes along with China, Russia, Japan and South Korea in Beijing in August to ease the crisis but ended inconclusively.

China, a key mediator of the crisis, is said to be pushing for a second round of six-way talks sometime next month, hopefully before the Lunar New Year festivities, which begin on January 22.

Washington demands that Pyongyang verifiably and irreversibly scrap its nuclear program, while North Korea has insisted on a legally binding security guarantee from the United States in return for a nuclear climb-down.

Some 37,000 US troops are stationed in South Korea.

© Copyright 2003 AFP

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