EU High Representative Catherine Ashton has called upon North Korea to stop stoking tensions and instead re-engage with the international community.

The bloc’s foreign policy chief said she deplored Pyongyang’s announcement it would reopen its mothballed Yongbyon reactor which supplied plutonium for its weapons program.

“Continued breaking of its international obligations by the DPRK that threaten stability in the region will inevitably lead to an ever more united response by the international community,” Ashton said in a statement.

“The DPRK should refrain from fuelling further tensions and show commitment to t
he agreed goal of complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula,” she added.

It emerged on Thursday that North Korea has deployed a missile to its east coast. Even though the missile has a “considerable” range, it would not capable of reaching the United States, according to South Korean defense officials.

Pyongyang's latest missile deployment has prompted the US to move its THAAD advanced missile defense system along with radar systems to a base on the Pacific Ocean island of Guam.

On Wednesday, the North Korean army said it had received approval to launch a “merciless” attack on the United States, including possible nuclear strikes.