North Korean female soldiers in heels pictured patrolling border

Images of four North Korean female soldiers in heels and Soviet-style hats were released in the latest act of bravado from dictator Kim Jong- un.

The images were accompanied by a fresh round of North Korean rhetoric claiming the communist state had “powerful striking means” on standby for a launch.

The official statement is the latest in a torrent of warlike threats seen outside Pyongyang as an effort to raise fears and pressure Seoul and Washington into changing their North Korea policy.

The eyes of the world remain focused on North Korea after South Korea warned that the prospect of a missile attack was “considerably high”.

The US is on standby to intercept any missile fired and warned North Korea it was “skating very close to a dangerous line” after it emerged the secretive state’s weapons system was “fuelled and ready to launch”.