North Korea on Wednesday accused the United States of campaigning to maintain its hegemony in the Indo-Pacific region and putting it in jeopardy of conflicts via its regional security initiatives and upcoming multinational maritime training.

In a post on the foreign ministry's website, Ri Myong-hak, a researcher at the ministry-affiliated Institute for Disarmament and Peace, took aim particularly at the US-led Quad forum involving India, Australia and Japan, as well as AUKUS, a trilateral security partnership of Australia, Britain and the US

"Due to the aggressive and hegemonic Indo-Pacific strategy of the US, the region is being exposed to the constant danger of military conflicts," he said. "This, in turn, is of negative influence to the Korean Peninsula."

He also denounced the US for waging "war exercises" on more than 10 occasions in the Pacific Ocean this year and for planning to conduct the world's largest Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) Exercise in August.

"The world should discern who is the real culprit of violating peace and remain vigilant about the military moves of the US," he added.

In early August, South Korea, the US and Japan plan to conduct a combined missile search and tracking exercise in waters off Hawaii to bolster their readiness to counter North Korea's evolving missile threats.

In a separate piece, Ra Guk-chol, a researcher of the Institute for Studies of Japan, criticized Tokyo's recent bid to revise its guidelines on defense equipment transfers, saying it could "plunge the world into a whirlpool of greater tension."

Japan has been seeking to ease its restrictions on defense supply transfers to allow the export of lethal military equipment, including missiles and jets.

Ra warned the global community to stay alert to Japan's "reckless moves to participate in the war," calling it "one of the culprits disturbing the global peace and stability." (Yonhap)