PYONGYANG -- Rodong Sinmun, a leading newspaper of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), on Tuesday denounced Japan's new defense program guidelines as a war plan.

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In a commentary, Rodong Sinmun said lurking behind the guidelines is "a criminal intention" to massively deploy mobile strike forces in the region close to the Korean Peninsula and China in a bid to attain the purpose of re-invasion.

It proves that the guidelines are no more than a war document designed to justify military operations for re-invasion targeting the DPRK and China, said the commentary.

It pointed out that Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan's recent remarks that Japan would send troops to South Korea for protecting Japanese nationals in an urgent situation disclosed the aggressive purpose of the country.

The article stressed that the guidelines and Kan's remarks are "a dangerous war plan of the Japanese militarist forces to invade not only the DPRK and China but the rest of Asia."

Japan's "wild ambition for re-invasion" would lead to self-destruction, said the paper.