North Korea warns of 'fiercer' military responses to US, allies

North Korea warned on Thursday of "fiercer military responses" to US efforts to boost its security presence in the region with its allies, state media said, saying Washington is taking a "gamble it will regret".

North Korea's foreign minister, Choe Son Hui, slammed a recent trilateral summit between the US, South Korea and Japan, during which the leaders criticised Pyongyang's weapons tests and pledged greater security cooperation.

Choe said the three countries' recent joint military drills failed to rein in the North but rather aggravated their own security crisis, and such moves would bring its "fiercer counteractions."

"The US will be well aware that it is gambling for which it will certainly regret," Choe said in a statement carried by the official KCNA news agency.