North Korea warns the US: Shooting down any missile we test is a "declaration of war"

North Korea said any move to shoot down one of its test missiles would be considered a declaration of war, attributing the rising tension on the Korean peninsula to joint military exercises between the United States and South Korea.

According to the official KCNA news agency on Tuesday, Kim Yo Jong, sister of leader Kim Jong Un, warned in a statement that Pyongyang would consider it a "declaration of war" if the United States takes military action against North Korea's strategic weapons tests.

She also hinted that North Korea could launch more missiles into the Pacific Ocean, stressing that "the Pacific Ocean is not subject to the sovereignty of the United States or Japan."

The United States and its allies have never shot down any of North Korea's ballistic missiles, which are banned by the UN Security Council.

Analysts said that if North Korea continued its threat to turn the Pacific Ocean into a "shooting range", this would allow the isolated, nuclear-armed country to make technological progress as well as assert its military strength.

Military exercises

In the same context, the North Korean Foreign Ministry accused the United States of "deliberately" exacerbating tensions with its joint military exercises with South Korea, according to what was reported by the North Korean Central Agency today, Tuesday.

"Despite our repeated warnings, the United States deliberately continues to exacerbate the situation," the North Korean Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The ministry stressed that "the recent joint air exercises ... clearly show that the US plan to use nuclear weapons against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea is being pushed forward at the level of an actual war."

The United States deployed the B-52 bomber to conduct joint exercises with South Korean fighter jets, which the South Korean Defense Ministry described as a show of force in the face of North Korea's nuclear and missile threats.

The two countries will hold the large-scale military exercises known as the "Freedom Shield" exercises, starting next week, and lasting more than 10 days.

About 28,500 American soldiers are deployed in South Korea in the aftermath of the Korean War between 1950 and 1953, which ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty, leaving the two countries in a theoretical state of war.