SEOUL: North Korea has put its artillery and ‘‘strategic’’ rocket units on combat ready status, with orders to prepare for strikes against the US mainland, Hawaii and Guam, state media is reporting.

A statement from the Korean People’s Army supreme command on Tuesday ordered ‘‘all artillery troops including strategic rocket units and long-range artillery units to be placed under class-A combat readiness’’.

The units should be prepared to attack ‘‘all US military bases in the Asia-Pacific region, including the US mainland, Hawaii and Guam’’, as well as South Korea, said the statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency.

Despite its successful long-range rocket launch in December, most experts believe North Korea is years from developing a genuine inter-continental ballistic missile that could strike the continental United States.