North Korea on Monday denounced South Korean military leaders' vow to overwhelmingly retaliate against Pyongyang in the event of the North's provocations, brushing it off as a show of "bravado."

In a commentary carried by the Korean Central News Agency, North Korea scoffed at their call for enhancing combat readiness against Pyongyang, repeating its claim that South Korea should be blamed for the rupture of a 2018 inter-Korean military accord.

"A frightened dog barks louder. If (South Korea) continues to bark noisily, it could be struck by a bolt of lightning," the KCNA said, calling the South Korean military chiefs' remarks a "bluff and bravado coming from a guilty conscience."

During a meeting with top military commanders Wednesday, Defense Minister Shin Won-sik warned only a "hell of destruction" awaits North Korea if the country carries out "reckless" actions.

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Kim Myung-soo also called for "overwhelming" capabilities against possible North Korean provocations during his visit to a border island Tuesday.

North Korea vowed to restore all military measures halted under the 2018 military tension reduction agreement, effectively scrapping the deal, after Seoul partially suspended it in protest of Pyongyang's launch of a military spy satellite last month.

Earlier in the day, North Korea fired a long-range missile into the East Sea, the South Korean military said, in its fifth intercontinental ballistic missile launch this year. The launch came a day after North Korea fired a short-range ballistic missile.

South Korea's unification ministry condemned North Korea for issuing warnings "full of bluffs" against Seoul's just countermeasure, saying it is North Korea that has violated multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions. (Yonhap)