North Korea has warned of the "toughest reaction" to any U.S. military attempt under the principle of "nuke for nuke and all-out confrontation for all-out confrontation."

The North's foreign ministry issued the warning on Thursday in a statement attributed to an unidentified spokesperson that was carried by its state-run Korean Central News Agency in response to U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s remarks about the increased deployment of strategic assets on the Korean Peninsula.

The statement said that North Korea has strategies to respond to any short- or long-term military challenge by the U.S. and its followers, vowing to manage the potential threats of the present and future with its most overwhelming nuclear capabilities.

It added that the continued deployment of strategic assets by the U.S. to the Korean Peninsula and surrounding area will elicit clearer deterrent activities without fail by the North according to their nature.

The statement said that Pyongyang is not interested in any contact or dialogue with the U.S. as long as it pursues its hostile policy and confrontational line.

The statement comes hours after South Korea and the U.S. staged combined air drills over the South's western waters, involving a B-1B strategic bomber and F-22 and F-35B stealth fighters from the U.S. Air Force.