What matters is that such scheme is under consideration when the U.S. is going to stage a "high-intensity joint drill" in the East Sea of Korea with mobilization of a strike group involving nuclear carrier Ronald Reagan, Aegis destroyer, missile cruiser and Ohio-class strategic nuclear submarine carrying nuclear missiles.

This sheds light on the sinister scenario to provoke a nuclear war by all means so as to "totally destroy" the DPRK and exterminate the population of the north, Rodong Sinmun Friday says in a commentary.

Now, the Korean peninsula is on the threshold of a nuclear disaster and no one knows at what time a thermonuclear war will break out, it says, adding:

The Trump group should think twice about what terrible consequences the U.S. will face due to its scheme for a nuclear attack on the DPRK.

The status of force between the DPRK and U.S. at present is fundamentally different from what was in the past Korean War in the 1950s.

The U.S. reckless military gambling against the DPRK may lead to its total destruction.

As the U.S. denies even the existence of the DPRK and tries to topple it by force, the latter's counteractions will be inevitable.

The DPRK is ready to counter the war of aggression with a war of justice and cope with the enemy's dagger with a sword and his rifle with an artillery piece. It is the invariable stand of the Korean army and people and their permanent mode of counteraction.