North Korea fires missile, warns of 'fiercer' responses to US and allies

North Korea has warned of "fiercer military responses" to US efforts to boost its military presence in the region with its allies, saying Washington is taking a "gamble it will regret", state media said.

Pyongyang also fired a ballistic missile off its east coast, South Korea's military said on Thursday, after slamming the recent US-Japan-South Korea summit that it warned will lead to "more unpredictable situation."

The three countries' recent joint military drills failed to rein in the North but rather aggravated their own security crisis, and such moves would bring its "fiercer counteractions," said North Korea's Foreign Minister, Choe Son Hui, slamming the summit, during which the leaders criticised Pyongyang's weapons tests and pledged greater security cooperation.

"The US will be well aware that it is gambling for which it will certainly regret," Choe said in a statement carried by the official KCNA news agency.

The statement came amid North Korea's flurry of missile launches and after US and South Korean warplanes' participated in large-scale joint air drills.