S. Korea hits back after N. Korea warns against US nuclear submarine visit

South Korea warned Friday that North Korea will face the "end" of its regime in the event of a nuclear attack after it said the deployment of a U.S. nuclear-capable submarine and other strategic assets here could meet the conditions for its use of nuclear arms, Report informs, citing Yonhap News Agency.

Seoul's defense ministry renewed the warning after Pyongyang's Defense Minister Kang Sun-nam issued a sharp-tongued statement the previous day, criticizing the arrival of the USS Kentucky, an 18,750-ton Ohio-class nuclear ballistic missile submarine (SSBN), in South Korea and the inaugural meeting of the South Korea-U.S. Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG) this week.

"In the event of any North Korean nuclear attack against the South Korea-U.S. alliance, it will face an immediate, overwhelming, and decisive response from the alliance, and (we) strongly warn again that through this, (the attack) will result in the end of the North Korean regime," the ministry said in a statement.