North Korea warned Wednesday that increased U.S.-South Korea cooperation on countering weapons of mass destruction (WMD) could trigger a nuclear response from Pyongyang, accusing the allies of seeking to trigger a nuclear and chemical weapons conflict.

In a statement published by the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), a spokesperson for the DPRK Ministry of National Defence accused the U.S. and South Korea of hyping North Korea’s “WMD threat” to justify an attack.

The condemnation came in response to a Sept. 10 meetingof the U.S.-ROK Combined WMD Countermeasures Committee in Seoul, in which the allies agreed to establish an