North Korea will continue to regularly test missiles and any military action against it by the US would prompt "all out war", a senior North Korean official told the media on Monday.
North Korea has conducted several missile and nuclear tests in defiance of UN sanctions and has said it has developed a missile that can strike the US mainland. Its latest missile test on Sunday failed a few seconds after launch.
"We'll be conducting more missile tests on a weekly, monthly and yearly basis," media quoted Vice Foreign Minister Han Song-Ryol as saying in an interview. "If the US is reckless enough to use military means it would mean from that very day, an all out war."
US Vice President Mike Pence warned North Korea on Monday that recent US strikes in Syria, one of Pyongyang's few close allies, and Afghanistan showed that the resolve of President Donald Trump should not be tested.
North Korean state media last week warned of a nuclear attack on the US at any sign of American aggression, but the White House said there was no evidence it possessed that capability.
Media also reported that Han also said North Korea believed its nuclear weapons protect it from the threat of military action by the US.
