A man watches a live television program showing North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during a massive parade marking the 105th birthday of national founder Kim Il-sung earlier this month. Picture: AP Photo/Lee Jin-man

Last week, US marines touched down in the NT capital for a six-month deployment, during which they will conduct military training exercises with Australian and visiting Chinese forces.

Commanding Officer of Marine Rotational Force Darwin, Lieutenant Colonel Brian S. Middleton, said the 1250 US Marine deployment to Darwin stands ready to fight if tensions between his country and North Korea escalate into direct conflict.

But while Lieut. Colonel Middleton said US Marines were ready for battle, Rodong Sinmun, the official paper of the Worker’s Party of North Korea, had its own take on the Darwin arrival, claiming the United States was using Australian territory in preparation of nuclear war.

“This is the largest scale US military presence in Australia after World War 2,” the newspaper reported on Monday under the headline “America prepares for nuclear war in different overseas military deployments”.

“America is fanatically, crazily trying to optimise its nuclear war readiness.”

A typical statement to come out of North Korea.Source:Supplied

It comes as a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry of the DPRK warned overnight the Turnbull government is “blindly and zealously toeing the US line”.

“It is entirely attributable to the nuclear threat escalated by the US and its anachronistic policy hostile to the DPRK that the situation on the Korean Peninsula is inching close to the brink of war in an evil cycle of increasing tensions.

“If Australia persists in following the US moves to isolate and stifle the DPRK and remains a shock brigade of the US master, this will be a suicidal act of coming within the range of the nuclear strike of the strategic force of the DPRK.”

It comes as Korean Central News Agency claims five million of North Korea’s youth “are hardening their will to wipe out the enemies with the surging rages at them” and were “waiting for the final order”.

But Australia’s Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne has laughed off North Korea’s latest claims, telling the ABC the US deployment in Darwin, the sixth and most complex US marine air-ground task force to be deployed to the Territory, has been a “longstanding government policy”.

“It’s not in any way a preparation for a conflagration on the Korean Peninsula.

“Obviously, we want to avoid any such military action and we want the North Koreans to behave as well as they can, like reasonable, international citizens.

“That means ending their missile testing and not preparing for a nuclear war with either the United States, Japan, South Korea or anyone else for that matter.

Mr Pyne said North Korea does not yet have the capability to put a nuclear warhead on a ballistic missile that would reach Australia.

“And one of the reasons why the Trump administration is strengthening its attitude in North Korea is to avoid North Korea ever having that capability.

“And for that reason, Australia supports the United States’ actions very strongly.

“And we call on China to take the lead role as the nation with the most influence over North Korea in bringing that about.”

North Korea blasted Australia’s Foreign Minister Julie Bishop in a statement on Saturday, threatening nuclear retaliation after she said the hermit kingdom could be subject to further Australian sanctions.

North Korea takes a dig at Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop.Source:Supplied

KIM JONG-UN PARANOID

Meanwhile, Kim Jong-un’s latest threats to Australia and the US show the North Korean leader is “very paranoid” and “feeling the pressure”, the US ambassador to the United Nations says.

The rogue state has taken a number of provocative actions in recent days as a war of words between it and the West reaches fever pitch.

Most shocking among them was its threat to launch a nuclear strike on Australian soil, in retaliation for our support of the US.

The US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, says North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is growing increasingly paranoid. Picture: AFP/Ed JonesSource:AFP

North Korea has also baited the US by saying it would sink its aircraft carrier the USS Carl Vinson and by detaining an American professor in Pyongyang named Tony Kim.

“Kim Jong-un is starting to flex his muscles because he feels the pressure,” ambassador Nikki Haley told the US’s Today show on Monday morning.

“Keep in mind, he’s just trying to get the confidence of his own people. So when he does these things he’s not necessarily doing them to all of us, as much as he’s trying to prove to his own people he can handle this.

“He’s very much feeling the pressure.

“I think you’re starting to see him get very paranoid and I think you’re starting to see pressure come from all parts of the international community and I think we just need to keep the pressure up.”

The arrest of Tony Kim brings the number of US citizens detained in North Korea to three. Ms Haley said the detention was an effort by a “flailing” leader to “have a bargaining chip” with the US.

She also indicated the US would be willing to retaliate if North Korea deployed an intercontinental ballistic missile or hit a military base — but warned Kim Jong-un not to test its mettle.

US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley condemned North Korea during a series of interviews on US TV on Monday. Picture: AFP/Jewel SamadSource:AFP

“The United States is not looking for a fight, so don’t give us a reason to have one,” she said.

“We are not going to do anything unless he gives us a reason to do something, so our goal is not to start a fight.”

Ms Haley said Mr Kim was feeling increased pressure after the UN voted to condemn its April 16 missile launch and since China had begun to work with the US to contain the North Korea threat.

Soldiers march across Kim Il-sung Square during a military parade in Pyongyang, North Korea, on April 15. Picture: AP Photo/Wong Maye-ESource:AP

However, North Korea expert Jenny Town told news.com.au she disagreed with Ms Haley’s assertion that Mr Kim was paranoid.

“Nobody does brinkmanship better than the North Koreans. They are going to match the level of rhetoric the US shows, or even go further,” said Ms Town, who is managing editor of 38 North, an independent North Korea web journal based in Washington.

“It’s not out of character for them. The more the US uses aggressive and antagonistic rhetoric, the more aggressive and antagonistic North Korea will be towards them.”

Ms Town said the Trump administration’s more belligerent tone towards North Korea was “exacerbating” tensions.

“It is a high miscalculation. There is a certain sense that they can scare North Korea back to the table if they are tough enough, but that has a lack of credibility,” she said.

Ms Town said a US pre-emptive strike could result in North Korea retaliating towards South Korea or Japan. North Korea knew the US would not be willing to take that risk. The embarrassing revelation that the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson was not sailing towards the Sea of Japan when the US said it was perpetuated this lack of credibility.

“All of this adds up to being very hollow threats and exacerbating the situation,” she said.

NORTH KOREA READY TO FIRE ‘AT ANY TIME’

The provocations come as a bird’s eye look at a top-secret test site shows that North Korea is ready to fire a nuclear weapon “at any time”.

A new analysis of satellite images by 38 North shows that the Punggye-ri site houses what are probably trailers near a tunnel being used to prepare for a nuclear weapons test.

Probable trailers observed near the North Portal of North Korea’s Punggye-ri nuclear test site. Picture: DigitalGlobe/38 North via Getty ImagesSource:Getty Images

Several unidentified objects and activities observed at the Main Administrative Area of North Korea’s Punggye-ri nuclear test site. Picture: DigitalGlobe/38 North via Getty ImagesSource:Getty Images

The images, obtained from a commercial satellite, also show at least five mining carts along the tracks that lead to a spoil pile and a net canopy that is believed to hide equipment.

The new analysis comes on the eve of Tuesday’s 85th anniversary of the Korean People’s Army, which many fear North Korea will use to launch a ballistic missile or test a nuclear weapon.

The rogue state often marks significant anniversaries with a show of force, and South Korean Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn has ordered the military to strengthen its “immediate response posture” ahead of Tuesday’s milestone.

The hermit state has carried out five nuclear tests so far, and 38 North’s Jenny Town said the site was “ready to handle a (sixth) nuclear test at any time”.

She stressed, however, that the satellites could not see inside the tunnel and there was no way to know with certainty that there was a nuclear device inside.

North Korea watchers were surprised earlier in the month when another set of photographs picked up that people were playing volleyball games at three different locations on Punggye-ri.

While the latest photographs, taken last Wednesday, show no volleyball games under way, a court is still visible in the north courtyard.

The analysis by 38 North suggests there is “no activity of significance” at a number of the site’s areas.

“It is unclear if the noted activity represents a ‘tactical pause’ before a forthcoming nuclear test, a broader more prolonged ‘stand down’ from testing or normal facility operations,” experts Joseph S Bermudez Jr and Jack Liu say in the analysis.

“Regardless, satellite imagery continues to indicate that the Punggye-ri nuclear test site appears able to conduct a sixth nuclear test at any time once the order is received from Pyongyang.”

President Donald Trump with his daughter Ivanka in the Oval Office on Monday. Picture: AP Photo/Susan WalshSource:AP

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jingping spoke on the phone on Sunday to address the continuing threat of North Korea.

“President Trump criticised North Korea’s continued belligerence and emphasised that Pyongyang’s actions are destabilising the Korean Peninsula,” the White House said.

Mr Xi urged the US to show “restraint”.

“(China) hopes that the relevant parties can maintain restraint and avoid actions that would increase tensions in the Korean peninsula,” Mr Xi said, according to the Chinese foreign ministry.