North Korea threatens Japan with 'nuclear clouds'

'No one knows when the touch-and-go situation will lead to a nuclear war, but if so, the Japanese archipelago will be engulfed in flames in a moment'

A photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) shows Kim Jong Un visiting a farm (Reuters)

North Korea has issued a chilling warning to Japan to stop putting pressure on Kim Jong-Un to relinquish his nuclear programme, saying it is a "suicidal deed" that will bring "nuclear clouds" to the country.

A commentary released by North Korean Central News Agency accused Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of pressuring North Korea purely for political gain, according to the South China Morning Post.

Tensions have grown on the Korean peninsula since Pyongyang conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear test on 3 September, leading to a new round of United Nations sanctions.

"Japan’s such rackets inciting the tension of the Korean peninsula is a suicidal deed that will bring nuclear clouds to the Japanese archipelago," the statement read.

"No one knows when the touch-and-go situation will lead to a nuclear war, but if so, the Japanese archipelago will be engulfed in flames in a moment. This is too self-evident."

It comes weeks after Mr Abe intensified calls to pressure North Korea into obligatory disarmament in a speech to the UN.

"The gravity of this threat is unprecedented. It is indisputably a matter of urgency. North Korea is attempting to dismiss with a smirk the efforts towards disarmament we have assiduously undertaken over the years," he said.

"We must make North Korea abandon all nuclear and ballistic missile programmes in a complete, verifiable, and irreversible manner.

"What is needed to do that is not dialogue, but pressure."

Mr Abe will speak with US President Donald Trump on Wednesday to offer his condolences for the Las Vegas shooting and to discuss North Korea's weapons programmes, according to a government source.