Seoul, March 28 (IANS): North Korea has released a video that simulates the launch of a nuclear attack on Washington and threatens the US with pre-emptive strikes, South Korean authorities said on Monday.

The video, uploaded on YouTube, in its final segment shows the launch of a long-range missile from North Korea, which goes through space before devastating the US capital, EFE news reported.

The narration in the video warns that a merciless pre-emptive nuclear attack awaits the enemy while a message in Korean urges the US to decide if it wants to continue existing or be wiped off the face of the earth.

The crudely-edited video, with its rudimentary special effects, has generated a lot of comments by users throughout the world, and comes amid mounting military tension owing to joint exercises being conducted by the US and South Korea in the Korean peninsula.

The annual military exercises, which will continue till end April and which North Korea considers "invasion drills," are the largest-ever conducted in the Korean Peninsula, and involve more than 17,000 American and 300,000 South Korean troops.