Seoul, South Korea ? North Korea warned Sunday of “nuclear disasters” around the world if Washington attacks the communist state, while its civilian leaders urged greater cooperation between Pyongyang and Seoul to ease the crisis on the Korean Peninsula.

The North’s official Rodong Sinmun newspaper accused the Central Intelligence Agency of preparing a surprise attack on the nation’s nuclear facilities that are suspected of being used to make atomic bombs.

“If the U.S. imperialists ignite a war on the Korean Peninsula, the war will turn into a nuclear war,” Rodong said. “As a consequence, the Koreans in the north and south and the people in Asia and the rest of the world will suffer horrifying nuclear disasters.”

The report, carried by the North’s state-run KCNA news agency, claimed that Washington put its forces around the peninsula on “semi-war footing” and “is pushing ahead with nuclear war preparations in full swing.”

Pyongyang accuses Washington of inciting the nuclear standoff as a pretext for an invasion. Washington has repeatedly said it has no plans to attack North Korea, but stresses that “all options are on the table.”

Sunday in Seoul, North Korea’s religious and civic leaders took part in inter-Korean religious masses and urged greater cooperation between the two Koreas.

The ceremonies were a part of an inter-Korean festival to mark the anniversary of a major independence uprising against Japanese colonial rule on March 1, 1919.

Pyongyang sent 105 delegates to Seoul on Saturday for the three-day festival. Both Koreas mark the uprising as a major holiday. Japan ruled the peninsula from 1910 to 1945.