Beijing: North Korea's foreign ministry has lashed out at Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and warned Australia was "coming within the range of the nuclear strike".
The threats were reported by the North Korean state news agency KCNA as being made on Friday, in response to a radio interview given by Ms Bishop.
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North Korea warns Australia of nuclear strike
North Korea's foreign ministry has lashed out at Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and warned Australia was 'coming within the range of the nuclear strike'. Vision: Channel 7.
According to a translation of the KCNA report, which was dated Friday, the same day US Vice-President Mike Pence arrived in Australia, Ms Bishop had said in the radio interview that North Korea seriously threatens regional peace and she supports the US policy that "all options are on the table".
A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry of North Korea - officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) - was quoted as saying: "The present government of Australia is blindly and zealously toeing the US line. It is hard to expect good words from the foreign minister of such government."
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The spokesman said the Korean Peninsula "is inching close to the brink of war in an evil cycle of increasing tensions" and blamed US policy.
"If Australia persists in following the US moves to isolate and stifle the DPRK and remains a shock brigade of the US master, this will be a suicidal act of coming within the range of the nuclear strike of the strategic force of the DPRK."
In the past fortnight North Korean state media has issued daily hyperbolic threats to the United States, while boasting on the front page of its Rodong Sinmun newspaper of the many mentions of its leader Kim Jong-un in international media coverage as the Korean Peninsula crisis continues. North Korean media similarly attacked South Korean acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn when Mr Pence arrived in South Korea in Monday, and threatened Japan days later.
North Korean state media continues to claim North Korea can strike its enemies anywhere on earth, which is untrue. It also frequently reports wild conspiracy theories, such as on Friday claiming the US was planning to use chemical weapons against North Korea.
The KCNA report continued: "The Australian foreign minister had better think twice about the consequences to be entailed by her reckless tongue-lashing before flattering the US."
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Saturday pledged support for the US policy on North Korea and again urged China to do more to place economic pressure on North Korea.
China has turned back coal shipments to North Korea in recent weeks, one of the regime's few sources of funding. Chinese media have speculated the Chinese government is also considering cutting oil supplies.
There are renewed concerns that North Korea may conduct its sixth nuclear test on Tuesday, the 85th anniversary of its military, and China said this week it was "gravely concerned".
China's official People's Daily newspaper on Saturday evening reported online that new satellite images of the North Korean nuclear test site had shown probable new trailer activity, citing US research website 38 North.