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South Korea and the United States kicked off their largest-ever joint military drills on Monday, prompting fresh warnings from North Korea of "indiscriminate" nuclear strikes against Seoul and the US mainland.

The annual exercises always raise tensions on the divided Korean peninsula and the situation is particularly volatile this year, given the North's recent nuclear test and long-range rocket launch and its fury over the tough UN sanctions imposed by the international community in response.

Participation in the joint drills -- known as Key Resolve and Foal Eagle -- has been bumped up this year to involve 300,000 South Korean and 15,000 US troops, as well as strategic US naval vessels and air force assets.

In a statement issued hours before the exercises began, North Korea's powerful National Defence Commission said it was prepared for an "all-out" military counter-offensive.

"As the joint military exercises to be staged by the enemies are regarded as the most undisguised nuclear war drills aimed to infringe upon the sovereignty of (North Korea), its military counteraction will be more preemptive and offensive nuclear strike to cope with them," the statement said.

- Weapons on 'standby' -

The threat came just days after leader Kim Jong-Un ordered the country's nuclear arsenal to be placed on standby for use "at any moment," in response to the sanctions resolution adopted last week by the UN Security Council.

Pyongyang has issued similar, dire warnings of nuclear attack in the past, usually during periods of elevated military tensions.

While the North is known to have a small stockpile of nuclear warheads, experts are divided about its ability to mount them on a working missile delivery system.

The National Defence Commission said plans for what it called a "pre-emptive nuclear strike of justice" had been drawn up by the Supreme Command of the Korean People's Army and ratified by Kim Jong-Un.

The plans would come into operation in the event of "even the slightest military action" by the North's enemies, it said.

"The indiscriminate nuclear strike... will clearly show those keen on aggression and war, the military mettle of (North Korea)," said the statement carried by the North's official KCNA news agency.

Targets would include operational theatres on the Korean peninsula, but also US bases on the mainland and in the rest of the Asia-Pacific region.

- 'Flames and ashes' -

"If we push the buttons to annihilate the enemies even right now, all bases of provocations will be reduced to seas in flames and ashes in a moment," the statement added.

Despite a pair of successful long-range rocket launches, most experts believe North Korea is years away from developing a genuine inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of reaching the US mainland.

Pyongyang has long condemned the Foal Eagle and Key Resolve exercises, which stretch over nearly two months, as provocative rehearsals for invasion, while Seoul and Washington insist they are purely defensive in nature.

The size of this year's drills was ramped up as a show of strength in the face of the North's fourth nuclear test on January 6 and February's rocket launch, which was seen as a disguised ballistic missile test.

A UN Security Council resolution adopted last week laid out the toughest sanctions imposed on Pyongyang to date over its nuclear weapons programme and will, if implemented effectively, apply significant economic pressure on Kim's regime.

It breaks new ground by targeting specific sectors key to the North Korean economy and seeking to undermine the North's use of, and access to, international transport systems.

Pyongyang has rejected the sanctions as "unfair, illicit and immoral" and vowed to keep building its nuclear arsenal.

The National Defence Commission said the US and its allies had failed to realise how the "outrageous" sanctions made "this land boil like a crucible of battle."

South Korea is set to unveil tougher unilateral sanctions against the North on Tuesday -- a move that is likely to draw further threats of retaliation from Pyongyang.

SEOUL, March 4 (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised the exercise of newly developed multiple rocket launchers and ordered his country to be ready to use nuclear weapons "at any time" in the face of a growing threat from enemies, its official media said on Friday.


Kim also said his country should turn its military posture to a "pre-emptive basis" because enemies are threatening the state's survival, its KCNA news agency said.

(Reporting by Jack Kim, editing by G Crosse)

PANMUNJOM, North Korea — Tensions have increased significantly along the Demilitarized Zone since North Korea's recent nuclear test and rocket launch, a North Korean military official told The Associated Press on Monday, adding that while he could not comment on operational details, "the reality is that it is touch and go."

Though parts of the world's most fortified border can seem like a tourist trap, drawing throngs of camera-happy visitors on both sides every year, to the military-trained eye the Cold War-style standoff along the 257-kilometer (160-mile) DMZ — established when the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty — is an incident waiting to happen.

That's now truer than ever, the North Korean officer said, as tensions are escalating between Pyongyang, Seoul and Washington. Thousands of U.S. troops are deployed in South Korea and units based around the DMZ have the motto "Be Ready to Fight Tonight."

"People come here and they think it's like a resort. But if you know it better, you know how dangerous it is," Lt. Col. Nam Dong Ho of the North Korean People's Army said in Panmunjom, the truce village where the armistice was signed.

Nam said tensions have increased significantly since the nuclear test in January and rocket launch earlier this month. "Something could happen at any time," he said.

To stand on the North Korean side of the Demilitarized Zone is almost otherworldly.

After crossing through military checkpoints and passing roadside concrete structures rigged to detonate and keep any vehicles from passing — defenses that are also common in the South — the air is peaceful and fresh, and birds can be heard chirping as they fly over a carefully manicured landscape dotted with rock monuments and meticulously maintained historical buildings.

But closer to the Demarcation Line that marks the actual border, soldiers stand rigidly on guard, armed and intimidating, often just a few steps away from their South Korean counterparts.

On Monday, the surreal feeling at the Demarcation Line was heightened by the absence of anyone — soldiers or civilians — visible on the South's side.

South Korea halted tours to its side of the DMZ the day after the Jan. 6 nuclear test, when it also announced it would resume cross-border propaganda broadcasts, which have in the past brought strong recriminations from North Korea. The tours have gradually resumed. A popular observatory where people can catch a glimpse into the North via binoculars was set to reopen Tuesday.

Along with restarting the broadcasts, South Korean President Park Geun-hye responded to the North's nuclear test and launch by shutting down a joint industrial park in Kaesong, a city just north of the DMZ, and telling the South Korean National Assembly that if North Korean leader Kim Jong Un doesn't change his ways his regime will surely collapse — predictably outraging the North.

North Korea reacted by putting the industrial park under military control, cutting off emergency hotlines with Seoul and — through its state-run media — accusing Park of being a traitor and a "senile granny."

"I don't even want to utter her name," Nam said. "I'm just a soldier so I don't know how the situation has changed. But as the Kaesong industrial zone has been totally closed by South Korea, our people and army are getting more enraged."

Nam said the broadcasts cannot be heard in Panmunjom during the day, which he suggested was because the South doesn't want them to be heard by South Korean tourists.

"But when it's quiet, late at night, you can hear them here," he said.

North Korea says it is developing nuclear weapons for self-defense and has the sovereign right to launch satellites as part of a peaceful space program. But both are generally seen as violating longstanding United Nations resolutions. The U.N. Security Council is still discussing its response, but the United States, Japan and South Korea have already announced new sanctions on the already-heavily sanctioned North.

The standoff is likely to get worse before it gets better.

Keeping its own military profile high, the United States flew four stealth F-22 fighter jets over South Korea and reaffirmed it maintains an "ironclad commitment" to the defense of its ally after the rocket launch. Last month, it sent a nuclear-capable B-52 bomber over South Korea following the North's nuclear test.

South Korea and the United States are expected to hold large-scale war games next month.

South Korea's defense minister has said about 15,000 U.S. troops will take part in the annual exercises, double the number Washington normally sends. The two countries have also begun preparatory talks to deploy a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense anti-missile system in South Korea.

That is strongly opposed by neighboring powers China and Russia, since the radar would allow Washington to reach well into their territory as well.

Nam, the North Korean officer, said he remains focused on his duties. But he added that, now that North Korea says it has an H-bomb — a claim disputed by some outside experts — the U.S. might be better advised to focus on negotiating a peace treaty to formally end the Korean War.

"On the international stage, the U.S. talks about peace," he said. "But it should not interfere in the affairs of other countries."

Ashley and Greg Box welcomed a very big bundle of joy when their son Kasen Michael was born Monday. The newborn weighed in at an impressive 12 pounds, 8 ounces — and measured a full 2 feet tall.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Ashley told KHOU. The Missouri couple wasn’t expecting Kasen until Jan. 18, and the mother said she didn’t think the baby, her second child, would be larger than 10 pounds. His delivery didn’t go as anticipated either.

“We pushed and no progress,” said Ashley, who ended up having a cesarean section at Citizens Memorial Hospital in Bolivar, Mo. And while Ashley acknowledges that her son is “huge,” she added that, “To me, he feels small.”

Perhaps it’s the perspective she’s learned from her older son, Blake, 2. The toddler was born weighing 2 pounds less than Kasen but is already wearing the clothes of a 4-year-old. When Blake met his “little” brother, dad Greg said the toddler kissed Kasen, told him that he loved him, and said, “‘Eat baby.’ It was hilarious.”

Kasen’s incredible size isn’t record-breaking, though, rare as it may be in Missouri, where KHOU reports that, according to the state’s Department of Health and Senior Services, only 1.4 percent of babies born in Missouri between 1990 and 2013 weighed more than 9.92 pounds. Guinness World Records identifies the heaviest surviving baby born to a healthy mother, Italy’s Carmelina Fedele in 1955, as weighing 22 pounds, 8 ounces. (In 1879, Anna Bates, an Ohioan with gigantism, welcomed a 23-pound, 12-ounce son, but he died 11 hours later.) In more recent news, a December baby born in Colorado weighed in at 13 pounds, 13 ounces — but 2 inches shorter than newborn Kasen at 22 inches long.