A North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman has lambasted the White House's new national security strategy as a "criminal document" aimed at achieving the "total subordination of the whole world to the interests of the US."
"This has fully revealed that 'America first policy' which the gang of [US President Donald] Trump is crying out loudly about is nothing but the proclamation of aggression aimed at holding sway over the world according to its taste and at its own free will," the spokesman said.
The statement came a few days after Trump revealed the US Administration's new national security strategy.
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The document stipulates that the US should be ready to respond to any aggressive action from North Korea with overwhelming force.
Previously, Trump said that Washington has no choice but to grapple with the North Korean issue, which he said should have been solved by previous US Administrations.
"This situation [in North Korea] should have been taken care of long before I got into office, when it was much easier to handle. But it will be taken care of. We have no choice," Trump said.
He hailed coordinated efforts between the US and its partners to put maximum pressure on North Korea, pledging to take more steps to isolate the regime of Kim Jong-un.
US-North Korea Tensions
Washington has repeatedly demanded that Pyongyang should halt its nuclear program before any bilateral negotiations could take place.
North Korea, for its part, has pointed towards the permanent military drills between the US and South Korea on the Korean Peninsula. Pyongyang has, on numerous occasions, said that it would talk to the US only after the development of a North Korean intercontinental ballistic missile program is completed.
In mid-December, US Republican Senator Lindsey Graham suggested that if North Korea carries out another nuclear test, there will be a 70 percent chance of the US striking Pyongyang.
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On Wednesday, the Daily Telegraph cited its "well-placed" sources as saying that the Trump Administration is mulling a strike against North Korea to give Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un a "bloody nose."
The attack could target missile launch sites or aim to destroy weapons and munitions depots, the sources said.
The situation on the Korean Peninsula has deteriorated after Pyongyang conducted a nuclear test and several missile tests earlier this year. On November 28, North Korea tested its most advanced intercontinental ballistic missile, the Hwasong-15, which some observers suggest is capable of reaching any target within the mainland US.
On September 3, 2017, Pyongyang claimed that it had detonated a hydrogen bomb, in what became North Korea's sixth nuclear test.
