North Korea said today it has moved strategic rocket and artillery units into top combat position in preparation for a strike against the United States.

North Korea says it has ordered artillery and rocket units into "combat posture" to prepare to target US bases in Hawaii, Guam and the US mainland.

United States and South Korea Friday signed a military pact providing for a joint response to even low-level provocation from the North.

Kim Yong Hyun, a professor of North Studies at Dong Guk University in Seoul, said North Korea's statement "doesn't mean that they will conduct some sort of military attack right away. They are elevating the crisis situation with the harshest rhetoric as possible.