North Korea: US weapons aid to Taiwan could 'ignite war'

North Korea has criticised a US weapons aid package to Taiwan, state media reported, accusing Washington of driving tensions in the region to "another ignition point of war".

The US unveiled an aid package for Taiwan worth up to $345 million on Friday as Congress authorised up to $1 billion worth of weapons for Taiwan as a part of the 2023 budget.

In a statement carried by the official KCNA news agency, Maeng Yong-rim, director general of the North Korean Foreign Ministry's Chinese affairs department, said on Friday the plan is a "dangerous political and military provocation" and a "flagrant violation" of the One China principle.

"It is the sinister intention of the US to turn Taiwan into an unsinkable advanced base against China and the first-line trench for carrying out its strategy for deterring China," the North's statement said.

Beijing claims that the island's unification with mainland China will eventually take place and threatens to use force if necessary. Taiwan rejects China's sovereignty claims and says only Taiwan's people can decide their future.

"The Asia-Pacific region, including the Korean peninsula and the Taiwan Strait, is neither a theatre of the US military activity nor a test site of war," the statement said, warning that the US will have to "pay a high price" for "provoking the core interest of China".

North Korea-China relations

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un met a Chinese delegation in Pyongyang last week and vowed to develop the two countries' relations to a "new high".

Before the meeting, they reviewed North Korea's newest nuclear-capable missiles and attack drones at a military parade.

China's military has been flexing its muscles around the island, recently sending dozens of fighters, bombers and other aircraft, including drones, into the skies to Taiwan's south.