According to a South Korean news agency, North Korea deployed two of its intermediate range missiles on mobile launchers and hid them on the east coast of the country.

South Korea said North Korea moved a missile with "considerable range" to its east coast after an unnamed spokesman for the North Korean army warned the US that its military has been cleared to wage an attack using "smaller, lighter and diversified nuclear" weapons, Fox News reports.

According to the report, the UK foreign office confirmed in a statement on Friday that North Korea asked a number of foreign embassies in Pyongyang to consider moving staff out since they could not assure their safety in the event of conflict.

North Korea has railed for weeks against joint US and South Korean military exercises taking place in South Korea and has expressed anger over tightened sanctions for a February nuclear test.u00a0