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North Korea is accusing the United States and South Korea of conducting about 180 spy flights over its territory this month.

The state-run Korean Central News Agency today (Sunday) said the flights showed, in its words, "aggressive ambition to stifle" North Korea by force of arms.

The news agency says the planes conducted aerial observations and took photographs over several days starting August 19th.

Pyongyang regularly accuses South Korea and the United States of conducting aerial spy missions, and has warned that the actions could warrant a pre-emptive attack by North Korean forces.

Seoul and Washington generally do not respond to North Korea's accusations.

North and South Korea remain technically at war because their three-year-long armed conflict ended in 1953 with an armistice and not a peace treaty.