The remarks came two days after the US state secretary, while speaking at the ongoing World Economic Forum in Davos, insisted the US missile defense system set to be deployed in South Korea -- the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense or THAAD -- was to "cope with the nuclear weapons of North Korea" and its reckless and unverified impulsive dictator Kim Jong-un.

In an interview with the North's state-run Korean Central News Agency, the North Korean foreign ministry spokesperson insisted his country has already become a nuclear power and that Kerry's remarks only represented the "extreme horror and uneasiness" felt by the United States.

"He had better repent of his crime of having pushed the DPRK-US relations and the regional situation into the worst catastrophe through the extreme hostile policy toward the DPRK during his tenure of office," the North Korean official was reported as saying.

"Whoever provokes even a little the dignity of the supreme leadership of the DPRK, which represents our destiny, will be made to pay a very high price beyond imagination." (Yonhap)