Washington, Oct 10 (IANS): Washington has dismissed North Korea's claimed ability to strike US mainland with missiles, saying the threat will achieve nothing, Xinhua reported.

"Well, certainly, rather than bragging about its missile capability they ought to be feeding their own people, would be our first comment," said US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland at a regular press briefing.

"The DPRK (North Korea) needs to understand that it will achieve nothing by threats or provocations. That's only gonna undermine their efforts to get back into conversation with the international community," said Nuland.

A spokesperson for North Korea' national defence commission announced earlier in the day that the country was equipped with strategic rocket forces now able to place the US mainland territory, South Korea, Japan and Guam (a US territory) within its target range.

"We are well prepared to fight with nuclear (weapons) against any nuclear (attacks) by the US and its followers," the spokesman said, vowing to launch all-out efforts to match the US and South Korea.

Nuland declined to comment on North Korea' striking capability, saying: "I'm not going to get into intelligence here. You can imagine. But they know what they need to do if they want to get back into a conversation with us."

Washington is planning a major expansion of missile defenses in Asia to cope primarily with threats from the North Korea, The Wall Street Journal reported in August.