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The North Korean government has on Thursday through a state agency threatened to sink Japan and reduce the United States of America to ashes following their involvement in the recent sanctions imposed on them by the United Nations Security Council in the wake of their latest nuclear tests.

The Korea Asia-Pacific Peace Committee, which handles the North's external ties and propaganda, also called for the breakup of the Security Council, which it called "a tool of evil" made up of "money-bribed" countries that move at the order of the United States.

"The four islands of the archipelago should be sunken into the sea by the nuclear bomb of Juche. Japan is no longer needed to exist near us," the committee said in a statement carried by the North's official KCNA news agency.

"Let's reduce the U.S. mainland into ashes and darkness. Let's vent our spite with mobilization of all retaliation means which have been prepared till now," the statement said.

Despite the North's threats, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said he was against having nuclear weapons in his country, either by developing its own arsenal or bringing back U.S. tactical nuclear weapons that were withdrawn in the early 1990s.

"To respond to North Korea by having our own nuclear weapons will not maintain peace on the Korean peninsula and could lead to a nuclear arms race in northeast Asia," Moon said in an interview with CNN.

Also, for the first time since North Korea's fourth nuclear test in January 2016, the South has pledged to contribute around $8 million to support infants and pregnant women in the North. This is in line with the nation's policy to separate humanitarian aid from politics.