North Korea said Friday it had no choice but to "completely review" the nuclear issue after accusing the United States and South Korea over a plot to blow up a statue of its founding leader.

North Korea said Friday it had no choice but to "completely review" the nuclear issue after accusing the United States and South Korea over a plot to blow up a statue of its founding leader.

The foreign ministry did not elaborate on what was meant by a review, but it will add to concerns Pyongyang may be planning to conduct a third nuclear test following its failed rocket launch in April.

Last month the North said it had no plans "at present" to conduct such a test.

The threat of a nuclear review came after the North arrested a man who was allegedly trying to blow up a monument to Kim Il-Sung, an act which the foreign ministry described as a "war action as serious as the armed invasion".

Pyongyang claimed South Korean intelligence authorities had hired him to carry out the plot and that Washington was actively involved.

"The consistent hostile policy towards the DPRK (North Korea) pursued by the US is giving rise to the evil cycle of confrontation and tensions on the Korean Peninsula, making the prospect of denuclearizing the peninsula all the more gloomy," the foreign ministry said in a statement released by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

"The situation compels us to completely review the nuclear issue."

The statement said the plot ran counter to a 2005 deal under which Pyongyang agreed to dismantle its nuclear program in return for economic and diplomatic benefits and security guarantees.

On Monday Pyongyang accused South Korea and the United States of using defectors to destroy statues and monuments dedicated to its late leaders.

More than 23,500 refugees have settled in the South since the 1950-53 Korean War. The North customarily describes defectors to the South as "human scum" who betrayed their country.