South Korea called on North Korea Monday to stop flaring up tension on the Korean Peninsula as the North has continued to condemn South Korean military activity ahead of planned high-level inter-Korean talks.

The North has blamed the South for dampening the conciliatory mood on the peninsula, citing the South's military activities, including planned field tactical training.

"We called on North Korea to stop its condemnation of our military activity in the western area and raising unnecessary tension," Jeong Joon-hee, spokesman at the Unification Ministry, said at a regular press briefing.

The North's rebuke is widely expected to gain the upper hand in handling inter-Korean affairs ahead of the upcoming vice-ministerial talks, experts said.

South and North Korea agreed last week to hold the high-level talks at a joint industrial park in the North's border city of Kaesong on Dec. 11.

Jeong also added that the government is closely watching developments surrounding North Korea's launch of a ballistic missile from a submarine.

North Korea is believed to have fired a KN-11 missile from a submarine in the waters off the country's coast last week, but the missile failed to leave the water in the East Sea, according to a government official. (Yonhap)