TEL AVIV – U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Friday North Korea’s recent statements were provocative but had proven to be hollow in the past and should not be trusted.

“As far as North Korea’s latest words (are concerned), I think we’ve all come to hear their words repeatedly, their word has not proven honest,” Mattis told a news conference in Tel Aviv.

On Thursday the official newspaper of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party, Rodong Sinmun, threatened the United States with a “super-mighty preemptive strike” that it said would wipe out “not only the U.S. imperialists’ invasion forces in South Korea and its surrounding areas but the U.S. mainland and reduce them to ashes.”