North Korea threatens nuclear strike over US aircraft carrier's presence in South Korea

North Korea called the arrival of a U.S. aircraft carrier combat group in South Korea a provocation Friday and threatened to use nuclear weapons.

North Korea's latest nuclear threat comes a day after the USS Ronald Reagan and its battle group landed in Busan after a U.S.-South Korean-Japanese naval exercise in international waters this week.

South Korean defense officials said the carrier will dock at Busan for five days as part of an agreement to temporarily deploy formidable U.S. military assets in response to the North's nuclear development.

The North's official Korean Central News Agency dubbed the aircraft carrier's approach “an undisguised military provocation”. It threatened to reply with its escalatory nuclear policy that allows preemptive nuclear use.

“The (North Korean) doctrine on the use of nuclear weapons already opened to public allows the execution of necessary action procedures in case a nuclear attack is launched against it or judgement is made that a nuclear attack is imminent,” the KCNA dispatch added.

The U.S. and South Korean administrations have repeatedly warned that North Korea's attempted nuclear use would overthrow Kim Jong Un's regime.