North Korea says US President Donald Trump's decision to designate Pyongyang a state sponsor of terror is a "grave provocation and aggressive violation".

The hermit state's Foreign Ministry condemned the move and issued a new threat to the US as North Korea issued its first response.

A spokesman called the decision "disgraceful behaviour" by Trump and denied the president's claims that Pyongyang supported acts of terror.

Trump put North Korea back on a list of state sponsors of terrorism on Monday, allowing the US to impose more sanctions on Pyongyang.

The move risked inflaming tensions even further over Kim Jong-un's quest to develop a nuclear weapon capable of hitting the US mainland.

Trump has accused North Korea of supporting acts of terror (
Image:
Getty)
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The spokesman for North Korea said the designation is a "serious provocation and a violent infringement upon our dignified country".

He added: "The US will be held entirely accountable for all the consequences to be entailed by its impudent provocation to the DPRK (North Korea)."

Trump had previously accused North Korea of "repeatedly" supporting acts of international terrorism, including assassinations in other countries.

Trump and Kim have been involved in a war of words during the crisis on the Korean peninsula, even trading personal insults at times.

A soldier stands guard at the demilitarised zone (DMZ) on the North Korea-South Korea border (
Image:
AFP)
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The US president announced the designation a week after he returned from a 12-day visit to Asia, where he discussed the North Korea situation with the leaders of China, Japan and South Korea.

Trump said the designation would clear the way for further sanctions.

He told reporters earlier this week: "This designation will impose further sanctions and penalties on North Korea and related persons and supports our maximum pressure campaign to isolate the murderous regime."

The president said the move should have been made "a long time ago".

Kim laughs in a photo released after Pyongyang's latest nuclear test (
Image:
Barcroft Media)

Only three other countries - Iran, Sudan and Syria - have been designated state sponsors of terrorism by Washington.

North Korea was put on the list over the 1987 bombing of a Korean Air flight that killed all 115 people on board.

It was removed by the administration of former President George W Bush in 2008 in exchange for progress in denuclearisation talks.

North Korea has carried out a number of missile and nuclear tests this year despite sanctions from the UN and a number of countries.

North Korea has test-fired a number of intercontinental ballistic missiles this year (
Image:
AFP)
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Two missiles have been fired over Japan and North Korea has threatened to fire projectiles towards the US Pacific territory of Guam.

Further missile tests are expected before the end of the year as North Korea improves its long-range missile technology.

It emerged last week that Pyongyang has made "aggressive" progress in building a new submarine capable of firing ballistic missiles.

North Korea's nuclear and missile tests in 2017

February 11: New medium-range Pukguksong-2 (KN-15) ballistic missile launched into Sea of Japan, travelling 310 miles.

March 6: Five medium-range Scud-er ballistic missiles launched into the Sea of Japan, with four travelling more than 600 miles.

March 21: Mobile-launched missile explodes moments after launch in failed test.

April 4: Medium-range KN-17 ballistic missile test-fired into the Sea of Japan, travelling just 34 miles after spinning out of control.

April 15: KN-17 missile explodes almost immediately after take-off.

April 28: KN-17 missile travels just 21 miles before breaking apart in mid-air.

May 14: Missile, believed to be a KN-17, flies about 480 miles before crashing into the Sea of Japan.

May 21: Another KN-17 test, with the projectile travelling more than 300 miles into the same sea.

May 29: A short-range ballistic missile was tracked for six minutes before landing in the sea.

June 8: Anti-ship missiles fired into the Sea of Japan.

July 4: North Korea tests its first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), a Hwasong-14 which crashed into the Sea of Japan after travelling about 580 miles.

July 28: Another ICBM is test-fired, flying 621 miles for 45 minutes - the longest flight of a ballistic missile fired by North Korea - before crashing into the sea inside Japan's Economic Exclusion Zone.

August 26: Three short-range ballistic missiles are test-fired, with the second blowing up within seconds and the third failing in flight.

August 29: North Korea fires a KN-17 over northern Japan - sparking evacuations and air raid sirens in towns - and it travels 1,667 miles before breaking apart.

September 3: Pyongyang carries out its sixth test of a nuclear weapon, claiming it was a hydrogen bomb, causing a 6.3-magnitude earthquake. Experts say the device was up to eight times more powerful than the bomb the US dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.

September 15: Another ballistic missile - the 14th missile test of the year - is fired over northern Japan, this time flying for about 2,300 miles before hitting the sea.

November 29: A larger Hwasong-15 ICBM was launched near Pyongsong, travelling for an unprecedented 50 minutes and reaching a height of 2,800 miles. The missile flew 600 miles into the Sea of Japan.