North Korea puts rocket units on alert to 'attack US'

North Korea has elevated its artillery and strategic missile forces to "combat-ready posture" and said it is prepared to strike targets in South Korea, Japan, Guam, Hawaii and the continental US.

The announcement, carried by the KCNA state media, was in the name of the Supreme Command, which has attracted attention in South Korea because it is an emergency division of the government that is only operational during time of war.

In the announcement, North Korea said it would "show off our army and people's stern reaction to safeguard our sovereignty and the highest dignity through military actions."

Soldiers from the Korean People's Army take part in landing and anti-landing drills (Reuters)

The comments come a day after Kim Jong-un was again pictured visiting military units, watching exercises on the east coast involving troops storming ashore from hovercraft and artillery shelling targets.

The media mouthpiece for the regime said North Korea can no longer overlook Washington's nuclear and military threats.

The US and South Korea recently conducted military exercises involving a nuclear submarine and B52 bombers flying out of air bases on Guam.

"The US nuclear war racket has gone beyond the danger line and entered the phase of an actual war, defying the repeated warnings from the army and people of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea," the statement said.

Soldiers from the Korean People's Army take part in landing and anti-landing drills (Reuters)

South Korea was on the receiving end of another bout of threats, which have become more frequent and more vitriolic since the United Nations Security Council voted unanimously to step up sanctions against Pyongyang for carrying out a nuclear test in February.

The KCNA report warned that the government in Seoul, "Should be mindful that everything will be reduced to ashes and flames the moment the first attack is unleashed."

Pyongyang's latest threats were issued on the day that South Korea marked the third anniverasry of the sinking of the corvette Cheonan in a torpedo attack blamed on the North.

Guam is 2,135 miles from North Korea. Hawaii is 4,669.

Memorial ceremonies were held across the country for the 46 South Korean sailors killed when the warship exploded and sank in the Yellow Sea. North Korea maintains that it had nothing to do with the incident.

Park Guen-hye, the South Korean president, urged Pyongyang to halt its provocations at a speech at the national cemetery in the city of Daejeon marking the anniversary.

"As we mark the third anniversary of the Cheonan, I strongly urge North Korea to change," Park said.

"North Korea must immediately abandon its thoughts that nuclear weapons will protect its regime," she said. "The only way North Korea will survive is if it voluntarily lays down its nuclear weapons, missiles, provocations and threats, and transforms into a responsible member of the international community."

Kim Kwan-jin, the hard-line defence minister, was less conciliatory towards the North, ordering the South Korean military to remain at the highest level of alert and be ready to retaliate in the event of a provocation.

Hugo Swire, the foreign office minister, told The Daily Telegraph in Beijing that the regime in Pyongyang remains "very unpredictable" and the hope remains that Beijing might be able to intervene to reign in its neighbour.

"The Chinese are critical in our engagement with North Korea," he said. "They share our frustration about the latest violations. They recognise it is destabilising the region. They are fed up with Pyongyang and will now be as active as they can be to show them this cannot continue."

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