North Korea military at the ready in response to naval drills

PYONGYANG, North Korea, Oct. 8 (UPI) -- North Korea officials said the military is going on alert in response to naval drills off the Korean Peninsula between Japan, South Korea and the United States.

A military spokesman told the official Korean Central News Agency that the North Korean army went on high alert Saturday and would be ready to take military action at any time upon the arrival of the USS George Washington, a nuclear-powered 97,000-ton super carrier, to the peninsula.

"In this connection, the entire North Korean military received an emergency order from its supreme command to re-examine the operation plans already ratified by it and keep themselves fully ready to promptly launch operations any time, watching with high vigilance every move of the U.S. and Japanese aggressors and the puppet forces," the spokesman, whose name wasn't reported, said.

He said the United States would be responsible for any unexpected disaster caused by its "imperialist aggression forces' nuclear strike means," the Korea Times reported.

Meanwhile, South Korean officials urged North Korea to stop name-calling directed at President Park Geun-hye and insulting the South, the Yonhap News Agency reported.

Park called on the North Friday to give up its nuclear ambitions during a ceremony for Armed Forces Day.

"If Park Geun-hye and her cohorts recklessly scramble to nullify our nuclear armament in order to topple our regime, it will amount to digging their own graves," North Korea's National Defense Commission said in response in a statement.

"North Korea's slandering toward the South is going beyond the limits," the Ministry of Unification in Seoul said. "The North should immediately stop its insulting remarks of the publicly-elected president as well as its threats toward our citizens."