North Korea has ordered the country's diplomatic missions to capitalize on a regional row over South Korea's deployment of an advanced U.S. missile defense system in order to drive a wedge between Beijing and Seoul, a source said Monday.

The source well informed of North Korea's internal affairs said the regime issued the guidelines recently, telling its overseas diplomatic missions to maximize the China-South Korea and China-U.S. conflicts over the deployment so North Korean can benefit from the standoffs.

Last month, Seoul officially announced its decision to station the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system on its soil, brushing aside China's strong opposition. China has been unusually vocal in its criticism of the deployment plan, which it said would hurt China's strategic interests.

"North Korea's foreign ministry recently handed out the guidelines to embassies and consulates overseas, in which it defined the THAAD issue as a provocation against North Korea and a threat to the North East Asian region's security," the source said.

"And it also ordered overseas missions to carries out strategies to mold the current situation in the North's favor."

The latest move followed North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's order, issued after the South Korean deployment decision, to drive a wedge between the South Korea-U.S.-Japan bloc and the China-Russia bloc, the source said.

"Right after the announcement of the THAAD deployment, Kim Jong-un instructed (officials) to stress the U.S.' military build-up and instigate a confrontation of South Korea-U.S.-Japan versus China-Russia," according to the informer.

South Korea has consistently said the deployment is only defensive in nature in the face of North Korea's growing nuclear and missile threats, although the country's decision has triggered a diplomatic row with China and Russia.

A South Korean official, meanwhile, rebutted news reports that the government has started an investigation into what appears to be North Korean Internet Protocols that were used to post on-line criticism of the THAAD deployment plan. The official said the reports are "untrue." (Yonhap)