North Korea has condemned NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg’s ongoing visit to South Korea and Japan as part of efforts to create an “Asian version of NATO,” warning that his trip serves as a “prelude to confrontation” and heralds a “new Cold War” involving the Asia-Pacific region.

Kim Tong Myong, a researcher of the Society for International Politics Study in the DPRK, accused the “U.S.-led” body of expanding its “hegemony” to the Asia-Pacific region under the guise of dealing with threats from China and Russia, according to a statement published Monday by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).