North Korea threatened a “pre-emptive” nuclear strike on the United States, as it didn’t rule out a second Korean war.

North Korea threatened a “pre-emptive” nuclear strike on the United States, as it didn’t rule out a second Korean war.

"Now that the US is set to light a fuse for a nuclear war, (our) revolutionary armed forces... will exercise the right to a pre-emptive nuclear attack to destroy the strongholds of the aggressors," a foreign ministry spokesman said in a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

The spokesman also warned that a second Korean war was "unavoidable", with both the United States and South Korea refusing Pyongyang's demands to cancel a large-scale joint military exercise next week.

Two days earlier, Pyongyang’s military announced it would rip up the 1953 armistice agreement ending the Korean War -- a move that would theoretically pave the way for a resumption of hostilities.

TOUGH SANCTIONS
Meanwhile, the Security Council was expected to adopt a resolution later Thursday tightening the UN sanctions screws on North Korea after its nuclear test last month.

Amounting to one of the toughest sanctions regimes ever ordered by the United Nations, the resolution also threatens "further significant measures" if the North stages a new nuclear test or rocket launch.

Thursday's Pyongyang foreign ministry statement warned that adoption of the resolution would fast track North Korean plans to carry out promised "powerful" countermeasures.

The spokesman also stressed that the decision to "nullify" the 1953 armistice would come into effect when the US-South Korean military drill begins on Monday.

"This means that from that moment the revolutionary armed forces will take military action for self-defense against any target any moment," he said.