North Korea warns of 'catastrophic consequences' after U.S. aircraft carrier arrives off South Korea

Oct. 13 (UPI) -- North Korea Friday called the arrival of U.S. aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan in South Korea an undisguised military provocation and warned of "catastrophic consequences" and the danger of outbreak of a nuclear war.

In a statement published on the state news agency KCNA, North Korea threatened "the most powerful and rapid first strike" against U.S. strategic assets.

The North Korean statement accused the United States of persisting in introducing various nuclear strategic assets to the Korean peninsula and asserted that, "a possibility of constant military collision exists and the danger of outbreak of nuclear war is rampant."

The USS Ronald Reagan battle group docked in Busan, South Korea following a trilateral South Korean-U.S.-Japanese military exercise in international waters.

The U.S. deployment is part of an effort to ramp up "regular visibility" of U.S. military assets in the region following increasing North Korean missile tests.

North Korea's statement on state media also threatened that it would use nuclear weapons in case of a nuclear attack against it or if it is determined that the use of nuclear weapons against it "is imminent."