Korean Central News Agency

AFP PHOTO / KCNA via KNS

The North Korean Foreign Ministry believes that US decision to send an aircraft carrier strike group to the shores of the Korean Peninsula proves the aggressive intentions of Washington, and Pyongyang is ready to take countermeasures in case of military action, local media reported Tuesday, citing a ministry's official.

In the midst of ongoing joint military exercises between the United States and South Korea, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has stated that it may attack without warning against what it claims are preparations for an enemy invasion by the West.

North Korea said March 2 it is ready to be "merciless" in the face of joint South Korean-United States military drills that began a day earlier. 

The weeks-long annual military exercises in the South have also previously provoked Pyongyang, which views them as a preparation for invasion. 

Turkey's Foreign Ministry on Feb. 12 "strongly" condemned North Korea's test-firing a ballistic missile, which triggered a U.S.-led call for an urgent U.N. Security Council meeting after the launch was seen as a challenge to President Donald Trump.

North Korea is to construct a monument honouring dictator Kim Jong-un, his father and grandfather, on the country’s highest mountain, in a further sign that the young autocrat is intent on building his own personality cult.

South Korea warned Dec. 11 of "fatal" consequences for Pyongyang's leadership if provoked into conflict, after North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un oversaw a military drill simulating an attack on Seoul's presidential Blue House.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un hailed a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) test as an "eye-opening success", state media said April 24, declaring Pyongyang has the ability to strike Seoul and the U.S. whenever it pleases.
 
The launch on April 23 came amid growing concern that Pyongyang is preparing a fifth nuclear test.
 

Leader Kim Jong-Un has ordered North Korea's nuclear arsenal to be readied for pre-emptive use at any time, in an expected escalation of military rhetoric following the UN Security Council's adoption of tough new sanctions on Pyongyang.
 

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un appeared on Dec. 10 to claim the country has developed a hydrogen bomb, a step up from the less powerful atomic bomb, but outside experts were sceptical. 

North Korea announced on Oct. 30 it would convene a congress of its ruling Workers' Party for the first time in 35 years, reviving a forum last gathered under the rule of current leader Kim Jong-Un's grandfather, Kim Il-Sung.