A spokesperson for the North’s defence ministry on Sunday slammed the allies’ plans to expand a key annual joint military drill next year to include a nuclear operation drill and warned of “a preemptive and deadly counteraction”.
“This is an open declaration on nuclear confrontation to make the use of nuclear weapons against the DPRK a fait accompli,” the statement carried by the KCNA news agency said, using the official acronym for North Korea.
“The hostile forces’ any attempt to use armed forces against the DPRK will face a preemptive and deadly counteraction,” it added.
The missile launch also comes as Pyongyang marks the anniversary of the death of leader Kim Jong Un’s father and predecessor Kim Jong Il who died on Dec 17, 2011.
North Korea last year declared itself an “irreversible” nuclear power and has repeatedly said it will never give up its nuclear programme, which the regime views as essential for its survival.
And last month Pyongyang successfully put a military spy satellite into orbit. It has since claimed its eye in the sky was already providing images of major US and South Korean military sites.
The UN Security Council has adopted many resolutions calling on North Korea to halt its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes since it first conducted a nuclear test in 2006.