North Korea threatens ‘unimaginable’ strike on US after military drills

North Korea has threatened to launch an “unimaginable” strike on the US, accusing the Trump administration and its South Korean “puppet” allies of seeking to “ignite a war on the Korean peninsula at any cost”.

The statement released by the Korean Central News Agency, Pyongyang’s official’s mouthpiece, predicted “imminent catastrophic disaster” in the region.

Using typically hyperbolic language, it vowed to “mercilessly smash the war frenzy of the US and South Korean puppet warmongers to get rid of the abyss of ruin through dangerous war gambling and inflict the most miserable death on the invaders.”

The threat came in response to joint US-South Korea military drills in waters east of the Korean peninsula involving the USS Ronald Reagan, a nuclear powered aircraft carrier.

Forty warships have been deployed in a line stretching from the Yellow Sea to the Sea of Japan.

The presence of the US Navy's biggest warship in Asia, coupled with F-18 Super Hornets and B1-B strategic bombers, comes ahead of Donald Trump’s first official visit to the region, set to start in Japan on 5 November.

The White House is yet to decide whether the President will visit the demilitarised zone (DMZ) during his 12-day trip, which will see him visit South Korea on 7 November and leave for China a day later.

North Korea said America's plans to evacuate US civilians in South Korea beginning on Monday would “intentionally create the tension on the eve of war”.

Next week’s drill, known as Courageous Channel, is being used by the US Department of Defence to respond to “a wide range of crisis management events”.

The drill takes place every six months but has garnered more attention amid escalating tensions on the peninsula.

North Korea's statement added: “The US is running amuck by introducing under our nose the targets we have set as primary ones.

“The US should expect that it would face unimaginable strike at an unimaginable time.

“The South Korean puppets, too, will not go scot-free as they are introducing the US nuclear strategic assets and turning the whole land of south Korea into the worst-ever field of a nuclear war without seeing the imminent catastrophic disaster.

“The grave situation on the Korean peninsula reaching the unpredictable phase more clearly shows that the US and South Korean puppet warmongers are the chieftains threatening the existence and development of the Korean nation and the root cause of a nuclear war.”

A series of weapons tests by Pyongyang, including its sixth and most powerful nuclear test on 3 September and two missile launches over Japan, has stoked tensions.

But on Sunday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Mr Trump had instructed him to continue diplomatic efforts to defuse tension with North Korea.

Washington has not ruled out the eventual possibility of direct talks with the North to resolve the stand-off, US Deputy Secretary of State John J Sullivan said on Tuesday.

Additional reporting by Reuters