Seoul, Oct 01: North Korea today accused the United States of conducting some 160 spy flights in September to monitor its military activities. North Korea's official news agency KCNA said various reconnaissance planes of the United States "flew day and night in the sky above the areas along the military demarcation line" to spy deep into the country and on major targets.

DPRK stands for the Communist country's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The military demarcation line refers to the border between North Korea and South Korea, which bisects the 4 kilometer wide, 249-kilometer long demilitarized zone.

"The US imperialist bellicose forces perpetrated at least 160 cases of aerial espionage on the DPRK in September by mobilizing strategic and tactical reconnaissance planes with different missions," KCNA said, quoting an unidentified military source. It said the espionage flights included 20 missions by a U-2 high altitude strategic reconnaissance plane.

The US military does not comment on North Korean claims. It acknowledges monitoring North Korean military activity but says it is done without entering North Korean air space by flying in South Korean or international air space.

The KCNA report also said that the US military in South Korea began flying its newest unmanned spy planes - the shadow 200 tactical unmanned aerial vehicles - along the demilitarized zone last month. Bureau Report