North Korea threatens to turn U.S., South Korea into 'powder'

SEOUL, Feb. 25 (UPI) -- North Korea said it would "create a planet without the United States," as the United Nations Security Council prepared to pass a tough resolution against Pyongyang this week and the United States and South Korea are preparing a joint military exercise.

Pyongyang made the statement Thursday in state-controlled newspaper Rodong Sinmun. In its editorial, North Korea also warned that South Korea and the United States could be turned into a "sea of fire," Yonhap reported.

North Korea is strongly opposed to the military exercises that take place annually on the peninsula. Key Resolve, expected to be one of the biggest military drills to be held in March, is being carried out with the goal of "decapitating" the Kim Jong Un regime, according to Pyongyang.

"How dare they try to hide the dazzling sun [Workers' Party Secretary Kim Jong Un], our destiny, humanity's destiny," Pyongyang said in statement, according to South Korean news service News 1. "Let us make 10 million missiles that would turn South Korea's presidential Blue House and the United States into powder."

But the threats could be coming from a sense that North Korea's security is being threatened. The joint drills are equivalent to a "declaration of war," Pyongyang said, and repercussions could follow. U.S. military bases in the Asia-Pacific region would be turned into "ashes," North Korea stated in its warning.

The Rodong also ran photos of the 1950-53 Korean War and the U.S. Navy ship Pueblo, captured by the North in 1968.

North Korea warned its adversaries against attack, saying "millions of youth can turn themselves into human bombs" if it meant protecting Kim Jong Un.

Pyongyang also denounced South Korean President Park Geun-hye, who marks her third year in office.