Pentagon warns North Korea following claim of ICBM reaching US shores

After North Korea claimed it is close to successfully launch an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), the United States issued a sharp rebuke to Pyongyang against "provocative actions."

The toughly worded US statement called on "all states" to show the North that any unlawful actions would have "consequences", reports the Guardian.

The Pentagon statement came hours after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said that his country was close to testing such a missile, which would be capable of reaching American shores.

"We are in the final stages of test-launching the intercontinental ballistic missile," Kim said in a televised New Year's speech, pointing to a string of nuclear and missile tests last year.

He said Pyongyang was now a "military power of the East that cannot be touched by even the strongest enemy."

The Pentagon statement urged Pyongyang to "refrain from provocative actions and inflammatory rhetoric that threaten international peace and stability."

The statement reaffirmed Washington's "ironclad commitment" to defend its allies, using "the full spectrum of US extended deterrence capabilities.