SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea threatened to fire at lighting equipment on the heavily militarized border dividing the peninsula, saying U.S. and South Korean troops were provoking the other side with floodlights.

Saturday’s warning was issued hours after the U.N. Security Council strongly condemned recent missile tests by the North, including one on Wednesday that was launched from a submarine.

Already high tensions have escalated since the U.S. and South Korea began a new round of war games on Monday, prompting protests from Pyongyang, which considers the joint exercises a rehearsal for an invasion.

The North accused U.S. and South Korean troops of aiming floodlights at guard posts on the other side since Friday evening in the truce village of Panmunjom in the demilitarized zone.

The “deliberate provocation” was getting on the nerves of North Korea’s soldiers, the state-run Korean Central News Agency said, quoting the chief of security officers of the Korean People’s Army in Panmunjom.

The actions also jeopardized the safety of the North Korean troops and disrupted their normal monitoring activities, KCNA said.

“Floodlight directed at the KPA side at random is taken as an intolerable means of provocation and it will be the target of merciless pinpoint shots,” the agency said.

It said the activities have further raised the anger of North Korean soldiers at a dangerous time as the peninsula was on the “brink of war” due to the start of the Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercises.

It did not mention the Security Council statement. However, North Korean Foreign Ministry official Jon Min Dok called the condemnation a “terrible provocation” and said his country was developing nuclear weapons because of “outrageous nuclear intimidation” by the United States.

Jon spoke to Associated Press Television News just before the Security Council concluded its discussions.

U.S. Forces Korea did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lighting allegations.

Earlier this week, the U.S.-led United Nations Command in South Korea accused the North of planting land mines near the so-called Bridge of No Return near Panmunjom.

The area is the site of the signing of the armistice that ended the 1950-53 war, leaving the two sides separated by the world’s most heavily militarized border.

The armistice bars any hostile acts within or across the 2.5-mile-wide buffer zone.

Last August, two South Korean soldiers were maimed by land mines near the DMZ. Seoul blamed North Korea and tensions spiked before the two sides reached an agreement to de-escalate. .

Wednesday's launch was the latest in a series of missile tests as the North defies the tightened sanctions and continues to push toward its goal of acquiring a nuclear weapon that could target the United States.

South Korean officials said the missile flew about 310 miles before landing in the sea, the farthest distance yet for such a weapon fired from a submarine off the North’s east coast.

All 15 Security Council members, including China, deplored the fact that North Korea’s ballistic missile activities are contributing to its development of nuclear weapon technology and increasing tensions.

“The Council reiterated that the DPRK shall refrain from further actions, including nuclear tests, in violation of the relevant resolutions,” a press release said.

It also called on countries to “redouble their efforts” to implement tightened sanctions that were imposed on North Korea after it conducted its fourth nuclear test, followed by a long-range rocket launch earlier this year.

gamel.kim@stripes.com Twitter: @kimgamel

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