The United States announced earlier this month that the deadline for withdrawing 12,500 troops, one third of its forces in South Korea, would be pushed back by three years until 2008 because of Seoul's security fears.

Washington also scrapped plans for the pullout of key military equipment targeting North Korea's heavy artillery.

"The announcement clearly proves that the US farce to cut down its forces in South Korea was nothing but a trick to cover up its arms buildup for invasion of the DPRK (North Korea)," Minju Joson, the North's cabinet newspaper, said in a commentary.

The Pentagon has recently reinforced its navy and air force power in and around the Korean peninsula as part of its 11 billion dollar arms buildup aimed at offsetting the planned troop cut.

But Washington has denied having intentions to invade North Korea.

The US troop reduction on the Korean peninsula is part of Washington's global troop redeployment plan to bring home 70,000 American troops from Europe and Asia to better cope with "war on terror" or new threats.

But some South Koreans express concerns about a possible security gap from the abrupt withdrawal of US troops, who have played a key role in deterring any attack from North Korea since the 1950-53 Korean War.

North Korea has recently been locked in a standoff with the United States over suspected nuclear weapons programs in the communist state.

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