North Korea claimed Thursday that it is capable of launching a nuclear attack as South Korea and the European Union have agreed to explore all possible means to get Pyongyang to give up its nuclear programs.

North Korea "has now soared as a nuclear power possessed of powerful nuclear attack capabilities," an unidentified spokesman of the North's Foreign Ministry said in an English-language statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.

"The US will sooner or later face a shuddering reality in which their bayonet that targeted the life of the people of the (North) will boomerang on it."

Still, he did not elaborate on what he meant by boomerang on the US

It is not new for the communist country to boast progress in its nuclear and missile programs, but the latest claim came amid concerns that the North could be on track to develop a nuclear-tipped intercontinental missile that can reach the US mainland.

The statement came a day after South Korea and the EU agreed to mobilize all possible means to help end North Korea's nuclear programs.

South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and EU's foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini reached the agreement when they held a bilateral meeting in Brussels on the sidelines of the conference of donor countries for Afghanistan, Seoul's Foreign Ministry said.

The two sides shared the view that the North's fifth nuclear test highlighted the urgency of the North Korean nuclear issue and pledged close cooperation in efforts to adopt stronger UN Security Council sanctions and implement them thoroughly, the ministry said. (Yonhap)