Rodong Sinmun Saturday says this in an article.

The south Korean authorities are terming them "provocation" and "threats", the article notes, and goes on:

Lurking behind this is their intention to secure a pretext for justifying their confrontation racket and realize at any cost their ambition for escalating confrontation with fellow countrymen in the north in collusion with foreign forces.

No one will remain a passive onlooker to the outbreak of a war.

Nukes should be countered with nukes and missiles with missiles. There is nothing strange even if the DPRK immediately takes measures stronger than what the hostile forces are touting.

The history and reality eloquently prove that only one's own powerful military muscle can defend the destiny of the nation and pave the way for an independent life and development.

The DPRK clarified its resolute stand that it would take countermeasures including nuclear test to protect the sovereignty and dignity of the DPRK from the evermore mounting challenges for aggression by the hostile forces. No one has the right to criticize it.

If the U.S. and its following forces persist in their moves to isolate and stifle the DPRK under the pretext of its exercise of the just right to self-defence, its service personnel and people will wipe out all provocateurs and surely achieve the reunification of the country, the cherished desire, by giving fullest play to their tremendous deterrence for self-defence they have consolidated.

The U.S. and the south Korean puppet forces should stop acting rashly, clearly understanding the indomitable spirit and iron will of the service personnel and people of the DPRK.