The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Thursday said it would "take powerful practical military counteractions" against the United States following the latter's provocative actions in the past days, reported KCNA, the DPRK's official news agency.

KCNA on Thursday ran the full text of a statement issued by the spokesman for DPRK's General Staff of the Korean People's Army ( KPA) in charge of all operations, which said the KPA Supreme Command had approved the decision.

"Days and months have passed on this land amid the constant danger of war but never had the whole Korean Peninsula been exposed to such danger of a nuclear war as today," said the statement, pledging that the DPRK's army and people "are all out" to defend the sovereignty of DPRK and to "prevent a nuclear war of the U.S."