North Korea warns of nuclear test 'at any time'

North Korea warned on Monday that it will carry out a nuclear test "at any time and at any location" set by its leadership, in the latest rhetoric to fuel jitters in the region. Tensions on the Korean peninsula have been running high for weeks, with signs that the North might be preparing a long-range missile launch or a sixth nuclear test — and with Washington refusing to rule out a military strike in response.

A spokesman for the North's foreign ministry said Pyongyang was "fully ready to respond to any option taken by the US".The regime will continue bolstering its "preemptive nuclear attack" capabilities unless Washington scrapped its hostile policies, he said. "The DPRK's measures for bolstering the nuclear force to the maximum will be taken in a consecutive and successive way at any moment," he added.