North Korea repeated threats to target US military bases on Tuesday as Washington and its allies tightened economic sanctions against the isolated country by targeting Pyongyang's main foreign exchange bank with new measures.

"From this moment, the Supreme Command of the Korean People's Army will be putting into combat duty posture

No.1 all field artillery units, including long-range artillery units and strategic rocket units, that will target all enemy objects in US invasionary bases on its mainland, Hawaii and Guam," the KCNA news agency said.

The order was issued in a statement from the North's military "supreme command."

Moreover, North Korea's foreign ministry said in a statement published on the website of the KCNA news agency late Tuesday that on behalf of the country it "gives a notice to the UN Security Council that due to South Korea and US, a war situation has been established on the Korean Peninsula."

"Our soldiers and people ... have entered the final stage of an all-out war against the US in order to protect our independence and the dignity of the nation," the ministry said.

The Pentagon on Tuesday condemned Pyongyang's threats to target US military bases, saying it was ready to respond to "any contingency."

"They need to stop threatening peace on the peninsula; that doesn't help anyone, and we stand ready to respond to any contingency," Pentagon spokesman George Little told reporters.

Officials said Japan and Australia plan to sanction North Korea's Foreign Trade Bank as part of US-led efforts targeting Pyongyang's funding for its nuclear program.

China again called on all parties to show restraint. "At present, the situation on the Korean peninsula remains complex and sensitive," foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said.

Pyongyang's aggressive rhetoric appears to mark a further attempt to boost the military credentials of Kim Jong-un, and has cemented the role of the military and the North's nuclear weapons and missile ambitions with the nuclear test and two long-range rocket launches.

KCNA said on Tuesday that Kim had guided a landing operation by combined units including the North Korean navy.

Addressing a ceremony marking the third anniversary of the sinking of its naval vessel Cheonan by what Seoul insists was a North Korean submarine, South Korean President Park Geun-hye warned Pyongyang that its only "path to survival" lay in abandoning its nuclear and missile programs. The North has always denied sinking the Cheonan.

Agencies