According to state-run media KCNA, North Korea warned on Tuesday that any attempt to shoot down one of its test missiles would be considered a declaration of war, and blamed rising tensions on a joint military drill between the United States and South Korea. Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said in a statement that military action against the North’s strategic nuclear tests would be considered a “declaration of war” by Pyongyang.

She also suggested that the North could launch more missiles into the Pacific. Despite North Korea’s threats to launch more missiles over Japan, the US and its allies have never shot down one of the country’s ballistic missiles, which are prohibited by the UN Security Council.

According to Kim, neither the United States nor Japan has control over the Pacific Ocean.

Analysts believe that if North Korea follows through on its threat to use the Pacific Ocean as a “shooting range,” it will be able to improve its technology while also demonstrating its willingness to use force.

In a separate statement, the head of North Korea’s Foreign Ministry’s Foreign Press Division claimed that the US was “aggravating” the situation by organizing field exercises with South Korea and conducting a combined air practice with a B-52 bomber on Monday. According to South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which manages relations with the North, Pyongyang’s “reckless nuclear and missile development” is to blame for the worsening situation.

The US sent the B-52 bomber to a joint exercise with South Korean fighter jets in what the defense ministry described as a show of force against North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats. The “Freedom Shield” maneuvers, a lengthy military exercise involving the two countries, will begin the following week.

According to Yonhap, US and South Korean jets practiced quick takeoffs on Tuesday as part of a drill in response to North Korean threats to destroy airfields.

North Korea’s army claimed on Tuesday that its adversary fired 30 rounds of artillery from close to the border and demanded an end to such “provocative measures” immediately.

South Korea denied this and refuted the claim. As a result of the 1950-1953 Korean War, which ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty and left the two countries formally at war, approximately 28,500 American troops are currently stationed in South Korea.