North Korea on Tuesday warned the US against any "reckless" attempt to launch a preventive strike on the country, hours after President Barack Obama said Pyongyang's nuclear test directly challenged the world and sought a global "action" against it.
"It is self-evident that nothing has changed in the US hostile policy towards the Democratic People's Republic of Korea: even under the new administration," the state-run' Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in an editorial.
It said North Korea is ready to rebuff any threat from the United States which remains a hostile state also under the new Obama administration.
The terse editorial also denounced the US steps on re-grouping its fighters stationed in the region, Russian news agency Itar-Tass reported.
On Monday, after it conducted its second underground nuclear test, North Korea launched three anti-aircraft missiles, which was assessed as a warning to American reconnaissance planes monitoring the situation around the nuclear test site in the North.
"Our army and people are fully ready for a battle against any reckless attempt of a preventive strike by the US," the official paper warned.
The US announced last month it will deploy nearly a dozen F-22 fighters to Okinawa in Japan and the Pacific island of Guam to foster regional security. Pyongyang, however, views the deployment as a threat to its security.
Accusing North Korea of "directly" and "recklessly" challenging the global community by conducting the second nuclear test, President Obama on Monday said this defiance "warrants action" internationally.
Terming the test a "threat to international peace", Obama said: "these actions while not a surprise given the statements and actions to date, are a matter of grave concern to all nations".
