North Korea vowed Friday to develop cutting-edge striking means and beef up its nuclear capability as the United States. is seeking to deploy an advanced missile defense system in South Korea.
  

The U.S. is considering deploying a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery on South Korean soil, home to about 28,500 American troops, in a bid to counter evolving threats from North Korea. Washington and Seoul have said there have been neither consultation nor decision on the issue.
  

North Korea's Rodong Sinmun, the communist party's official newspaper, raised its flak against Washington over the possible deployment, saying that the move will touch off an arms race in the Asia-Pacific region.
  

"If a conflict occurs, South Korea will be the first target of the DPRK's neighboring countries as it has turned into a forefront base and advanced nuclear base for carrying out its American master's Asia-Pacific strategy," the newspaper said.
  

DPRK is the acronym of North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
  

"The North's army and people will closely watch the U.S. ploy while continuing to develop its own cutting-edge striking means and strengthen nuclear deterrents," it said. "This would be the best strategy to beat out Washington's move to turn the Korean Peninsula into a flash point of a new world war."
  

The issue of the THAAD deployment has become one of the most sensitive for Seoul as China and Russia also voice their explicit opposition against the U.S. move, saying it hurts their security interests.
  

The North has never ceased to make provocations, raising tension on the peninsula.
  

In May, Pyongyang claimed that it had successfully test-fired a ballistic missile from a submarine. It also said that it has already made nuclear warheads small enough to fit on a missile, a claim which analysts in South Korea and the U.S. have not recognized. (Yonhap)