The Daily Star's FREE newsletter is spectacular! Sign up today for the best stories straight to your inbox Sign up today! Thank you for subscribing See our privacy notice Invalid Email

(Image: GETTY)

North Korea have warned that US and South Korean joint military exercises could result in “actual war" and bring a "nuclear" conflict to the Korean Peninsula.

One of Kim Jong-un's top diplomats made the shocking comments today in Geneva while appearing before a United Nations Disarmament Body.

Pyongyang has continued to spark the fury of the world by launching another four ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan and refusing to cooperate over the killing of Kim Jong-nam in Malaysia.

South Korean defence bosses believe the missiles launch was designed to test North Korea's ability to destroy US bases in Japan.

North Korean diplomat Ju Yong Choi described the Washing and Seoul war games as “massive, unprecedented” and a “major cause of escalation of tension that might turn into actual war".

"The ongoing joint military exercise is carried out with massive mobilisation of troops, unprecedented in size, and various types of U.S. strategic forces including nuclear carriers, nuclear strategic bombers and stealth fighters," Ju told the 61-member forum.

He added: "It will certainly jeopardise peace and stability in the region and drive the situation in the Korean peninsula to the brink of nuclear war."

His warning came after the US and South Korea have deployed THAAD – a massive missile defence system – to face down North Korea.

(Image: AFP) (Image: GETTY)

The fierce 90-minute session – featuring envoys from China, Britain, France, Russia and the US – saw widespread condemnation of the most recent missile test by North Korea.

US Disarmament Ambassador Robert Wood said: "It should be very clear to the DPRK that it is a pariah, it is an outlier, it is in violation of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions, and that the countries represented in this room are not going to stand by and just let the DPRK violate international law."

He added the Pyongyang nuke programmes is a ""clear threat to the national security of every country of the region".

(Image: GETTY)

North Korean diplomat declared that ongoing joint US-South Korea military exercises were aimed at conducting a "pre-emptive nuclear attack" against Pyongyang.

Washington and Seoul are planning to drill "destroying" North Korea's nukes using the THAAD system in a joint operation dubbed Key Resolve.

THAAD is expected to be operational by the summer – a move which has also enraged North Korea's closest ally China.