SEOUL - NORTH Korea criticised the US on Monday for positioning missile defence systems around Hawaii, calling the deployment part of a plot to attack the regime and saying it would bolster its nuclear arsenal in retaliation.

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has said he ordered the deployment of a ground-based, mobile missile intercept system and radar system to Hawaii amid concerns the North may fire a long-range missile toward the islands, about 7,240km away.

'Through the US forces' clamorous movements, it has been brought to light that the US attempt to launch a pre-emptive strike on our republic has become a brutal fact,' the North's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in a commentary.

The paper also accused the US of deploying nuclear-powered aircraft and atomic-armed submarines in waters near the Korean peninsula, saying the moves prove 'the US pre-emptive nuclear war' on the North is imminent.

The commentary, carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, said the North will bolster its nuclear arsenal in self-defence.

The North routinely accuses the US of plotting to invade the North. But the US, which has 28,500 troops in South Korea, has said it has no such plan.

Tensions on the Korean peninsula have been running high since the North defiantly launched a rocket in April and conducted an underground nuclear test last month, prompting UN Security Council sanctions.

North Korea responded to the UN resolution on the nuclear test with threats of war, and pledged to expand its nuclear bomb-making programme. -- AP