North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country is ready to mobilise its nuclear war deterrent and counter any U.S. military clash, and criticised South Korea's new president for the first time, warning Seoul was pushing towards the brink of war.
Kim made the remarks during a speech at an event to mark the 69th anniversary of the July 27 Korean War armistice, which left the two Koreas technically still at war.
The confrontation with the United States posed nuclear threats since the 1950-53 war required the North to achieve an "urgent historical task" of beefing up its self defence, Kim said.
"Our armed forces are thoroughly prepared to respond to any crisis, and our nation's nuclear war deterrence is also fully ready to mobilise its absolute strength faithfully, accurately and promptly to its mission," he said.
The speech came after Seoul and Washington officials said Pyongyang has completed preparations to conduct its first nuclear test since 2017.
South Korea's unification minister handling inter-Korean affairs said on Tuesday there was a "possibility" of the test around the anniversary of the armistice, though a military official said there were no immediate signs for it.
North Korea is likely to face stronger sanctions including measures targeting its cyberattack capabilities if it goes ahead with the test, South Korea's foreign minister said on Wednesday.
In the speech, Kim said Washington continues "dangerous, illegal hostile acts" with South Korea against the North, and seeks to justify its behaviour by "demonising" the country.
The North has long accused the United States of double standards over military activities and pursuing a hostile policy towards Pyongyang, saying it hampers a restart of talks aimed at dismantling the country's nuclear and missile programmes in return for sanctions relief.
"The duplex act of the United States, which is misleading all the routine actions of our armed forces as 'provocation' and 'threat' while holding large-scale joint military exercises that seriously threaten our security, is literally a robbery," Kim said.
"That is driving bilateral relations to the point where it is difficult to turn back, into a state of conflict."
Kim also denounced South Korea's new conservative President Yoon Suk-yeol by name for the first time, accusing him of threatening the North's security and right to self defence.
"Warmongers" and "disgusting thugs" in Yoon's administration are bent on confrontational military activities, Kim said, singling out Seoul's weapons developments and drive to bring back U.S. nuclear strategic assets as well as allied military drills.
Their "heinous confrontational policy" toward the North and "toadyish, treacherous acts" are pushing the situation to the brink of war, he said.
