PYONGYANG - The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) said its army and people were ready for escalated conflicts and all-out war that would not be confined to the peninsula, the official news agency KCNA reported Saturday.

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According to the KCNA, a spokesman for the National Peace Committee of Korea said in the statement released Saturday that the recent moves of the US indicated that it was fully joining in Republic of Korea (ROK)'s moves for a war of aggression against the DPRK after "throwing away the disguise of a hypocrite".

It was clear that if the ROK army mobilized all flying corps, warships and missiles for a war against the DPRK and the US joined them with the latest weapons, it would develop into an all-out war, not a local war, he said.

The spokesman said ROK and the US fabricated the sinking of the ROK'S warship the Cheonan early this year and the recent Yonphyong Island shelling incident was aimed at sparking an all-out war.

It was ridiculous for the south to talk about a "right to self-defence". It was no more than "war servants and colonial stooges" of the US, he said.

"Should an all-out war break out again on this land, it will not be confined to the boundaries of the peninsula," he said.

The army and people who are ready for both escalated war and an all-out war will "deal merciless retaliatory blows" at the provocateurs and aggressors and blow up their bases and thus honorably defend the dignity and security of the nation, he said.

He warned ROK and the US to bear in mind that their ignition of a dangerous war would bring them nothing but self-destruction.

It was reported that the US and ROK held a meeting of the chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of ROK and the US in Seoul on Dec 8 over a military attack on the DPRK under the pretext of "deterring provocation".

Tension on the peninsula increased after the exchange of artillery fire on Nov 23 between ROK and DPRK, which killed four people.