North Korea's Kim Jong-un warns of settling accounts with US

Seoul, Mar 29: A day after the United States sent two stealth bombers which can deliver

from an air base in Missouri to

, Pyongyang threatened to use its rockets to "settle accounts with the

."

Within hours of the B-2 Spirit bombers returning to Missouri, the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un met his top generals and "signed the plan on technical preparations of strategic rockets of the KPA (Korean People's Army)", the Korean Central News Agency said.

Kim Jong-un ordered that the rockets be put on "standby for fire so that they may strike any time the U.S. mainland, its military bases in the operational theaters in the Pacific, including Hawaii and Guam, and those in South Korea," the state-run agency said.

It quoted Kim as saying that American hostilty towards his country has "entered a reckless phase, going beyond the phase of threat and blackmail." He noted that "the time has come to settle accounts with the US imperialists in view of the prevailing situation."

With South Korean media confirming heightened activity at some long-range missile sites in North Korea, there is an increased likelihood of a war breaking out on the Korean peninsula sometime in the near future.

Even as Pyongyang cried foul over the deployment of stealth bombers, the US reiterated its "alliance commitment to the defense of the Republic of Korea, to deterring aggression, and to ensuring peace and stability in the region."

According to the Pentagon, the two bombers flew to a South Korean island and dropped inert munitions there as part of its Foal Eagle training exercise series.

North Koreans were clearly incensed by the military drill. Thousands took part in a rally that was taken out through the Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang. They were heard shouting slogans such as "Sweep away the US aggressors" and "Death to the US imperialists".

OneIndia News (with agency inputs)