The United States has criticized North Korea for a recent threat in which it said it would use nuclear weapons if war breaks out on the Korean Peninsula.

State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said via Twitter on Thursday that North Korea, unfortunately, is “back to its old belligerent tricks.”

He said Washington wants constructive actions, not heated rhetoric from Pyongyang.

Crowley’s remarks come after People’s Armed Forces Minister Kim Yong-chun said his country is ready to launch a "sacred war" on South Korea using nuclear weapons.