North Korea could attack Australia with nuclear weapons if Canberra continues "blindly toeing the US line," a spokesman of North Korean Foreign Ministry said Sunday, Sputnik reported.
On Tuesday, Australia's Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said that North Korean nuclear weapons and missile program posed a threat to the country's security as the development of an intercontinental ballistic missile able to hit the US territory with a nuclear payload could also allow North Korea to hit the Australian territory.
"The present Government of Australia is blindly and zealously toeing the US line… If Australia persists in following the US' moves to isolate and stifle North Korea … this will be a suicidal act of coming within the range of the nuclear strike of the strategic force of North Korea," the spokesman said, as quoted by the Australian ABC broadcaster.
The spokesman added that Bishop should be more careful making such statements and "better think twice about the consequences."
The tensions related to the North Korean issues escalated in recent months amid Pyongyang's nuclear and missile tests. The activities of North Korea have been repeatedly by the international community.
In response to the tensions, the United States has sent a naval group led by the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier to North Korea. Later in April, media reported that US President Donald Trump might order a strike against Pyongyang in case of yet another North Korea's nuclear test. Pyongyang said that it was ready to respond to the US threats, including with the use of pre-emptive strikes.