By Hyunsu Yim and Josh Smith
SEOUL (Reuters) -North&nbsp;Korea&nbsp;said any move to shoot&nbsp;down&nbsp;one of its test&nbsp;missiles would be considered a declaration of war and blamed joint military exercise between the United States and South&nbsp;Korea&nbsp;for growing tensions, state media KCNA said on Tuesday.
Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of leader Kim Jong Un, warned in a statement that Pyongyang would see it as a "declaration of war" if the U.S. took military action&nbsp;against&nbsp;the&nbsp;North's strategic weapon&nbsp;tests.
She also hinted that the&nbsp;North&nbsp;could fire more&nbsp;missiles into the Pacific Ocean. The United States and its allies have never shot&nbsp;down&nbsp;North&nbsp;Korean ballistic&nbsp;missiles, which are banned by the United Nations Security Council, but the question drew new scrutiny since the&nbsp;North&nbsp;suggested it will fire more&nbsp;missiles over Japan.
"The Pacific Ocean does not belong to the dominium of the U.S. or Japan," Kim said.
Analysts have said that if&nbsp;North&nbsp;Korea&nbsp;follows through on its threat to turn the Pacific Ocean into a "firing range", it would allow the isolated and nuclear-armed state to make technical advances in addition to signalling its military resolve.
In a separate statement, the chief of the Foreign News Section at&nbsp;North&nbsp;Korea's Foreign Ministry accused the U.S. of "aggravating" the situation by conducting a joint air drill with a B-52 bomber on Monday and planning U.S.-South&nbsp;Korea&nbsp;field exercises.
In response, South&nbsp;Korea's Unification Ministry, which handles relations with the&nbsp;North, said Pyongyang's "reckless nuclear and&nbsp;missile&nbsp;development" is to blame for the deteriorating situation.
The United states deployed the B-52 bomber for a joint drill with South&nbsp;Korean fighter jets, in what South&nbsp;Korea's defence ministry said was a show of force&nbsp;against&nbsp;North&nbsp;Korea's nuclear and&nbsp;missile&nbsp;threats.
The two countries will conduct more than 10 days of large-scale military exercises known as the "Freedom Shield" drills starting next week.
On Tuesday, U.S. and South&nbsp;Korean warplanes practiced quickly taking off in a drill designed in response to&nbsp;North&nbsp;Korean threats to destroy airfields, Yonhap news agency reported.
Around 28,500 U.S. troops are stationed in South&nbsp;Korea&nbsp;as a legacy of the 1950-1953&nbsp;Korean War, which ended in an armistice, rather than a peace treaty, leaving the countries technically at war.
(Reporting by Hyunsu Yim and Josh Smith; Editing by Sandra Maler and Stephen Coates)

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North Korea warns US against shooting down missile tests