North Korea says US space shield is 'nuclear war scenario'

North Korea's foreign ministry has criticised the US Golden Dome missile defense shield project as a "very dangerous threatening initiative", state media said on Tuesday.

US President Donald Trump on May 20 said he had picked a design for the Golden Dome missile defence system and named a leader of the ambitious $175 billion programme.

The Golden Dome plan "is a typical product of 'America first', the height of self-righteousness, arrogance, high-handed and arbitrary practice, and is an outer space nuclear war scenario," said the Institute for American Studies of North Korea's foreign ministry, according to state KCNA news agency.

The aim is for Golden Dome to leverage a network of hundreds of satellites circling the globe with sophisticated sensors and interceptors to knock out incoming enemy missiles after they lift off from countries like China, Iran, North Korea or Russia.

China last week said it is "seriously concerned" about the project and called for Washington to abandon its development.