North Korea on Tuesday warned the United States of a "horrible disaster" and put its troops on alert over a massive joint naval drill involving a nuclear-powered U.S. aircraft carrier alongside South Korean and Japanese vessels.The warning came after Seoul and Washington last week signed a new joint strategy to counter the growing threat of a North Korean nuclear attack after the communist country restarted an ageing plutonium reactor.
That accord also drew a sharp rebuke, with analysts attributing the isolated regime's recent bellicose rhetoric to its desire to arouse the United States' attention and draw it back into long-stalled talks.