The United States says North Korea should place a priority on the well-being of its people instead of spending time threatening to attack U.S. forces abroad and the U.S. mainland.

U.S. State Department Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters on Tuesday that “rather than bragging about its missile capability,” the North should be feeding its own people.

Nuland underlined that in line with UN Security Council Resolutions 1718 and 1874, North Korea is obligated to scrap all activities related to ballistic missiles.

Asked about the possibility of the North seeing the U.S. and South Korea’s move to revise their missile guidelines as a provocative move that would be worthy of a response, Nuland stressed that the “changes in missile guidance are defensive in nature.”

Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Tuesday the North’s missile threats are "alarming," adding there is no way of knowing if the communist state’s claims were credible.