North Korean army vows 'merciless' response to any US provocation

A statement on KCNA, which cited Washington's recent missile strike on Syria, said the administration of President Donald Trump had "entered the path of open threat and blackmail against the DPRK".

Trump recently threatened unilateral action against Pyongyang if Beijing failed to help curb its neighbour's nuclear weapons programme.

The North has conducted a series of missile launches and nuclear tests in defiance of UN sanctions and there is growing speculation that it is preparing another atomic or missile test.

The Korean People's Army statement was typically defiant and menacing, boasting that US military bases in the South "as well as the headquarters of evils such as the (South Korean presidential) Blue House would be pulverized within a few minutes".

"The closer such big targets as nuclear powered aircraft carriers come (to the Korean peninsula), the greater would be the effect of merciless strikes," the statement added.