North Korea releases video footage of simulated attack blowing up the White House

'The enemy to be destroyed is in our sights,' says the secretive state's propaganda outlet

North Korea has released a propaganda film featuring simulated attacks on the White House and US aircraft carriers, amid heightened tensions between the countries.

The communist state’s propaganda outlet, Mearir (Echo) unveiled the footage of the missile strikes, declaring “the enemy to be destroyed is in our sights.”

It comes shortly after the US announced that it was sending warships to the Korean peninsula and Donald Trump said a fresh wave of American sanctions would be imposed on the secretive Communist state in an attempt to isolate it economically.

The two and a half minute film begins with scenes of North Korea’s latest military parade to mark the 105th birthday of late state founder Kim Il-Sung on 15 April where it displayed a range of ballistic missiles.

Accompanied by dramatic music, US aircraft carriers are shown going up in flames after the missile attacks, accompanied by a stark warning caption which roughly translates: “The moment when the enemy takes the first steps towards aggression and invasion.”

A second caption reads: “We will show you what a strong country that leads the world in nuclear and missile technology is capable of.”

Although North Korea is known for its bombastic propaganda it has ramped up its output in recent weeks. During a concert earlier this month attended by the country's leader Kim Jong-Un, ​a video was broadcast showing missiles racing over the Pacific and leaving a US city in flames.

That footage ended with a shot of a burning American stars and stripes flag, overlapping with an image of a cemetery.

Mr Trump has been putting pressure on China to use its influence to reign in its communist ally and has briefed Congress on the “very grave threat” posed by North Korea, which began to build its arsenal of nuclear weapons in the 1950s, assisted by the former Soviet Union.

US officials have said the Pentagon is developing military options after directing the Carl Vinson aircraft strike group towards the Korean Peninsula.

At a press briefing at the White House this week, an official who spoke to reporters on the condition of anonymity, said: “What the President has done is he's made a decision for us to pursue a certain course,“ the official told reporters in the White House briefing room, ”and that course obviously has a number of options associated with it depending on how the situation develops in the future.”

He said that Mr Trump’s plans include “a broad range of options, obviously, across all elements of national power and multinational power in connection with North Korea.”

“What you’ve seen is really an integrated effort to prioritise diplomatic and informational aspects of national power, but also what you’ll see soon is using the economic dimension of national power as well as the military preparations that are underway,” the official said as the US Senate received a briefing on the administration's strategy for North Korea.