'We will launch surgical strikes at any time': North Korea's chilling vow to end ceasefire with South in revenge for U.S army drills and nuclear test sanctions

Secretive state threatens to end its 1953 peace pact with South Korea
Peoples' Army Command warns of 'stronger additional countermeasures'
Strong words come after North conducted nuclear test earlier this month

PUBLISHED: 09:12 EST, 5 March 2013 | UPDATED: 09:56 EST, 5 March 2013

North Korea has vowed to cancel the 1953 cease-fire that ended the Korean War in revenge for UN sanctions over its recent nuclear test and continuing U.S.-South Korean joint military drills.

The Korean People's Army Supreme Command warned of 'surgical strikes' meant to unify the divided Korean Peninsula, and of a 'precision nuclear striking tool'.

The statement came amid reports that Washington and North Korean ally Beijing have approved a draft of a UN Security Council resolution calling for sanctions in response to North Korea's February 12 nuclear test. The draft is expected to be circulated at the UN this week.

Warning: Officials at a ceremony following a recent successful nuclear test in North Korea, which today sent a warning to the top U.S. commander in South Korea over impending joint drills

Warning: Officials at a ceremony following a recent successful nuclear test in North Korea, which today sent a warning to the top U.S. commander in South Korea over its plans for joint drills

The United States and others worry that North Korea's third nuclear test pushes it a step closer toward its goal of having nuclear-armed missiles that can reach America, and condemn its rocket launches and nuclear tests as a dangerous threat to regional security.

North Korea says its nuclear programme is a response to U.S. hostility that dates back to the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty, leaving the Korean Peninsula still technically in a state of war.

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The state warned it will cancel the Korean War cease-fire agreement on March 11, blaming U.S.-South Korean military drills that began last Friday, which it denounced as a 'dangerous nuclear war targeted at us'.

North Korea claims Washington and others are going beyond mere economic sanctions and expanding into blunt aggression and military acts.

Drills: Soldiers participating in a routine drill in South Korea, which is due to press ahead with joint drills with the U.S. military

HOW WAR WITH NO WINNER LED TO PERPETUAL CONFLICT

North and South Korea have not been at peace with each other since the outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950.

The conflict was the result of the division of the Korean Peninsula between a communist North, supported by China and the Soviet Union, and a capitalist South sponsored by the U.S.

Five years after the division, North Korea invaded South Korea, prompting reinforcement from the U.S. and its allies followed by a counter-reaction from China.

The war rapidly became seen as a fight between the capitalist West and the communist North, and is often considered to mark the first major conflict of the Cold War.

After initial gains by the western troops and a successful fightback by Chinese forces, the war rapidly settled into stalemate.

It was not until July 1932 that a ceasefire was declared, with the frontier remaining where it was before the conflict and a demilitarised zone established to prevent border skirmishes.

However, no formal peace treaty was signed, meaning that the two countries - which were not divided in any way before 1945 - have remained technically at war ever since.

North Korea continues to claim the territory of South Korea as its own, while the South claims to be intent on reunification as soon as possible.

'We aim to launch surgical strikes at any time and any target without being bounded by the armistice accord and advance our long-cherished wish for national unification,' the country said in a statement.

The pariah state also warned that it will block a communications line between it and the United States at the border village separating the two Koreas.

The warning came after North Korea warned the top American commander in South Korea of 'miserable destruction' if the U.S. military presses ahead with routine joint drills with South Korea set to begin next month.

Pak Rim Su, chief of North Korea's military delegation to the truce village of Panmunjom inside the Demilitarized Zone, sent the warning this morning to Gen. James Thurman, in a rare direct message to the U.S. commander.

Washington stations 28,500 American troops in South Korea to protect its ally against North Korean aggression.

South Korea and the U.S. regularly conduct joint drills such as the Key Resolve and Foal Eagle exercises slated to take place next month. North Korea calls the drills proof of U.S. hostility, and accuses Washington of practicing for an invasion.

'You had better bear in mind that those igniting a war are destined to meet a miserable destruction,' KCNA quoted Pak as saying in his message to Thurman. He called the drills 'reckless'.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, meanwhile, has been making a round of visits to military units guiding troops in drills and exercises since the nuclear test,.