In a statement carried by KCNA news agency, the top military body said the "high-level nuclear test" and more long-range rocket launches were aimed at its "arch-enemy", the US. 

 

The statement gave no time-frame for the test. North Korea has conducted two nuclear tests, in 2006 and 2009. 

 

The move comes two days after a UN Security Council resolution condemned² Pyongyang's recent rocket launch. 

 

The Security Council also expanded sanctions against the communist country following its December launch, which was seen by the US and North Korea's neighbours as a banned test of long-range missile technology. 

 

North Korea said the rocket was solely³ aimed at putting a satellite into space for peaceful purposes. 

 

 

The statement, which came from North Korea's National Defence Commission, hit out at（猛烈抨击） the resolution as "illegal", before pledging a response.

 

"We do not hide that the various satellites and long-range rockets we will continue to launch, as well as the high-level nuclear test we will proceed with, are aimed at our arch-enemy, the United States," KCNA quoted it as saying. 

 

"Settling accounts with the US needs to be done with force, not with words," it added.

 

Recent reports from South Korean and US bodies which monitor North Korea's nuclear test sites had said North Korea could be preparing for a third test. 

 

Earlier on Thursday, a South Korean defence ministry⁴ spokesman said it appeared that North Korea was "ready to conduct a nuclear test at anytime if its leadership decides to go ahead".

 

Regional neighbours and the US have urged it not to proceed. 

 

"We hope they don't do it, we call on them not to do it. It will be a mistake and a missed opportunity if they were to do it," said Glyn Davies, the US special envoy⁵ on North Korea policy who is currently visiting Seoul. 

 

"This is not a moment to increase tensions on the Korean Peninsula."

 

A South Korean foreign ministry spokesman said Seoul deeply regretted the North Korean statement and "strongly" urged it not to go ahead.

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