North Korea voiced criticism on March 21 over the upcoming nuclear security summit in Seoul, saying any South Korean attempt to address the North's nuclear program at the meeting would be seen as a declaration of war.

The March 26-27 summit, to be attended by US President Barack Obama and other world leaders, will focus on tackling nuclear terrorism.

But the North's atomic program - and its widely condemned announcement of a planned rocket launch - will be debated intensively on the sidelines.

The US, Chinese and other leaders will discuss ways to press Pyongyang to scrap its launch when they meet next week, South Korea's President Lee Myung-Bak said in interviews published on March 21, AFP reports.

The North has previously blasted the event -- the South's biggest-ever diplomatic gathering - as an "unsavory burlesque" intended to justify an atomic attack by South Korea and its US ally.

"If there is any provocative act such as the issuance of a so-called statement concerning 'the North's nuclear issue' at the Seoul conference, it would constitute an extreme insult" to the North's deceased leaders who made denuclearization their final wish, North Korean official news agency said on March 21.

"Any provocative act would be considered as a declaration of war against us and its consequences would serve as great obstacles to talks on the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula."