Seoul, Jul 13 (IANS): North Korea condemned the joint nuclear deterrence guidelines signed by Seoul and Washington as a "reckless provocative act," threatening that the allies will pay "an unimaginably harsh price" if they commit further provocations.

The message was published by the official Korean Central News Agency in a press statement from a defense ministry spokesperson after South Korea and Washington adopted "Guidelines for Nuclear Deterrence and Nuclear Operations on the Korean Peninsula" in Washington, DC, on Thursday.

The document is expected to significantly expand the assignment of US strategic assets on the Korean Peninsula by increasing the frequency and level of their deployment during both wartime and peacetime, reports Yonhap news agency.

"The DPRK Ministry of National Defence strongly denounces and rejects the reckless provocative act of the US and the ROK that pushes the regional military tensions to extremes through extremely incendiary and malicious rhetoric and provocative action," the spokesperson said.

DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the official name of North Korea, while ROK refers to the South, the Republic of Korea.

"The provocative behavior" by the allies is the "root cause of endangering the regional security," and it requires North Korea to "further improve its nuclear deterrent readiness and add important elements to the composition of the deterrent," the North Korean official noted.

The spokesperson warned the countries "not to commit such provocative acts causing instability any more," adding that "If they ignore this warning, they will have to pay an unimaginably harsh price for it."