North Korea upped its war mongering with Donald Trump today in a series of menacing boasts threatening to 'ravage' US troops amid fears the two countries are heading for war.
The secretive state vowed to 'pulverize' US bases and South Korean capital Seoul if it was threatened by the US military, which is carrying out drills on the Korean peninsula. A US aircraft carrier group is steaming towards the region.
It claimed it would 'ruthlessly ravage' the US if Washington attacked. China warned the region could go to war 'at any moment'.
The rhetoric comes after North Korea warned that President Donald Trump's 'troublemaking' and 'aggressive' tweets have pushed the world to the brink of thermo-nuclear war.
Pyongyang's Vice Minister Han Song Ryol accused Trump of building up a 'vicious cycle' of tensions and warned the US against provoking North Korea militarily. He said: 'We will go to war if they choose.'
He added the country would continue developing its nuclear program and conduct its next nuclear test whenever its leaders see fit.
In the past week Trump has shown his willingness to launch military strikes, with US missiles deployed in Syria and Afghanistan. North Korea unveiled 'game-changer' ballistic missiles during a display of the country's military might as Kim Jong-Un warned of an 'annihilating strike' if the US attacks.
The intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), which Pyongyang claim could travel thousands of miles, increased concerns that the secretive state is preparing for a possible attack on Washington after they were paraded during the country's Day of the Sun celebrations.
A gleeful Kim, wearing a Western-style suit at Kim Il-sung Square, saluted formations of soldiers who yelled out 'long live' to celebrate the 105th anniversary of his grandfather's birth.
The two new kinds of ICBM were enclosed in canister launchers mounted on the back of transporter erector launcher trucks as they were paraded in front of crowds during today's festivities.
Pyongyang has yet to formally announce it has an operational ICBM but experts believe they the new rockets could be liquid-fuelled intercontinental ballistic missiles, or an early prototype.
Submarine-launched ballistic missiles were also among the military hardware on show for the first time, indicating an improving technological capability that could help it evade anti-missile systems.
Kim has accused President Donald Trump of provoking his nation towards armed conflict with a series of increasingly aggressive moves, including sending the USS Carl Vinson to the Korean peninsula.
One of Kim's top officials, Choe Ryong Hae, today vowed North Korea would 'beat down enemies with the power of nuclear justice'.
He told the packed-out square: 'If the United States wages reckless provocation against us, our revolutionary power will instantly counter with annihilating strike, and we will respond to full-out war with full-out war and to nuclear war with our style of nuclear strike warfare.'
North Korea, led by dictator Kim Jong-un, vowed to 'pulverize' US bases and South Korean capital Seoul if it was threatened by the US military, which is carrying out drills on the Korean peninsula
North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un was pictured this week overseeing a special forces commando operation, as leaders warned a war could break out imminently with the US
In other developments today, as tensions heighten in the Korean peninsula:
- The North Korean Foreign Ministry's Institute for Disarmament and Peace warned a thermo-nuclear war could break out at any moment
- China's foreign minister Wang Yi said anyone who provokes conflict would 'pay the price', and said there would be 'no winners'. China warned war could break out 'at any moment'
- Air China announced that flights between Beijing and Pyongyang will be suspended from Monday
- The Kremlin voiced concern about the escalation of tensions, and called for 'restraint' from all parties
- The Korean People's Army in North Korea threatened to 'pulverize' US military bases in South Korea, and the South Korean presidential Blue House
- North Korea cited US-South Korean wargames, the deployment of a US aircraft carrier to the peninsula last weekend, as well as Trump's recent tweets as the cause of the threat of war
- South Korea's Foreign Ministry said saying Han's remarks reveal the 'true colours of North Korea's government that is bellicose and a breaker of regulations'
- Japan said it is maintaining high levels of surveillance and taking 'every possible measure' to respond to any contingency on the Korean peninsula
The US has been carrying out operations in the Korean peninsula alongside Japanese allies to enhance combat readiness
US Army soldiers were pictured today taking part in exercises close to the border between North Korea in Paju, South Korea
Fully armed US Aircraft from the 18th Wing during the no-notice exercise in the Korean Peninsula
North Korea's military said it would 'ruthlessly ravage' the United States if Washington chose to attack.
The Korean People's Army statement boasted that US military bases in the South 'as well as the headquarters of evils such as the (South Korean presidential) Blue House would be pulverized within a few minutes'.
Han's earlier comments come as tensions rise over the possibility Kim Jong-un's regime will launch another nuclear weapons test tomorrow as North Korea marks the national holiday Day of the Sun, commemorating the birth of the country's founding father Kim Il Sung.
Military officers visit the birthplace of North Korean founder Kim Il Sung, a day before the 105th anniversary of his birth, in Mangyongdae, just outside Pyongyang, today
A North Korean soldier pictured today gazing across the Yalu river opposite the Chinese border city of Dandong, on a day when China warned war could break out 'at any moment'
North Korean officials warned President Trump against acting aggressively against the secretive state
At the same time, a spokesman for the North Korean Foreign Ministry's Institute for Disarmament and Peace issued a statement condemning the United States for attacking Syria last week, while also calling for 'peace by strength'.
'The US introduces into the Korean peninsula, the world's biggest hotspot, huge nuclear strategic assets, seriously threatening peace and security of the peninsula and pushing the situation there to the brink of a war,' the North's KCNA news agency said on Friday, citing the statement.
'This has created a dangerous situation in which a thermo-nuclear war may break out any moment on the peninsula and posed serious threat to the world peace and security, to say nothing of those in Northeast Asia,' it said.
In a statement, the North Korean military, quoted by state media agency KCNA, said: 'Our toughest counteraction against the US and its vassal forces will be taken in such a merciless manner as not to allow the aggressors to survive.'
The statements were criticised by South Korea's Foreign Ministry, which said Han's remarks revealed the 'true colours of North Korea's government that is bellicose and a breaker of regulations'.
It said North Korea will face strong punishment it will find hard to withstand if it makes a significant provocation, such as another nuclear test or an intercontinental ballistic missile launch.
China immediately responded, saying anyone provoking conflict will 'pay the price'.
China's foreign minister Wang Yi said today there would be 'no winner' in any war, as tensions mount with the US.
He told reporters in Beijing: 'Dialogue is the only possible solution.'
Wang stated: 'Lately, tensions have risen with the US and the ROK (Republic of Korea in the South) on one side, and the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea in the North) on the other, and one has the feeling that a conflict could break out at any moment.
'If a war occurs, the result is a situation in which everybody loses and there can be no winner.'
Wang said that whichever side provoked a conflict 'must assume the historic responsibility and pay the corresponding price'.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists: 'Moscow is watching with great concern the escalation of tensions on the Korean peninsula. We call for restraint from all countries and warn countries not to pursue actions that could consist of any provocative steps.'
US troops carrying out military exercises near the border between North and South Korea in Paju, South Korea, today as tensions escalate
North Korea blames Trump and the US for the rising tensions, according to Han, who cited US-South Korean wargames, the deployment of a US aircraft carrier to the peninsula last weekend, as well as Trump's recent tweets on Tuesday that the North is 'looking for trouble'.
Han's remarks, on the eve of the country's biggest national holiday, the 'Day of the Sun', were released hours after a member of the Trump administration denied a report claiming the US was prepared to launch a pre-emptive strike to halt any nuclear test at the weekend.
He ordered air strikes on a Syrian air base in response to a chemical weapon attack and yesterday dropped the 'mother of all bombs' on a network of caves in Afghanistan, killing 36 ISIS fighters.
In another show of force, US military planes have been conducting military drills alongside Japan in the Korean peninsula.
On Tuesday the US President tweeted: 'North Korea is looking for trouble. If China decides to help, that would be great. If not, we will solve the problem without them! U.S.A.' Trump also called North Korea a 'menace' earlier this week and tweeted that if China doesn't do its part to rein in Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions, the US 'will solve the problem without them'.
Han said: 'As long as the nuclear threats and blackmail go on with the military exercises, we will carry forward with our national defense buildup, the core of which is the nuclear arms buildup.'
He also talked of a sixth nuclear test, saying: 'That is something that our headquarters decides. At a time and at a place where the headquarters deems necessary, it will take place.'
The North Korean official dismissed the suggestion Trump made last year during his presidential campaign that he was willing to meet Kim, possibly over hamburgers.
'I think that was nothing more than lip service during the campaign to make himself more popular," Han said.
'Now we are comparing Trump's policy toward the DPRK with the former administration's and we have concluded that it's becoming more vicious and more aggressive.'
US Vice President Mike Pence will embark on a 10-day visit to Asia, starting in South Korea on Sunday with contingency plans should it coincide with a nuclear test, a White House adviser said.
CIA director Mike Pompeo said North Korea was closer now than it had ever been to being able to threaten the United States with a nuclear-tipped intercontinental missile and increased its technical know-how with each new test.
Experts do not believe North Korea has a deliverable long-range nuclear weapon, or intercontinental missiles.
But that could change within the next few years, as experts say North Korea could have a viable nuclear warhead and a ballistic missile capable of hitting the US mainland during Trump's watch as president.
North Korea could be capable of carrying out a missile strike on the US mainland within Donald Trump's first term as president, a former presidential adviser has warned.
Dennis Wilder, who was a special assistant to George W Bush, urged world leaders not to underestimate Kim Jong-un.
Wilder, who has served as CIA deputy assistant for East Asia and the Pacific, told ABC that North Korea could develop long-range intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of hitting the US west coast within four years.
He said: 'We believe, and American intelligence estimates say this, that the North Koreans could have such a weapon within the next four years. In other words, during the term of President Trump.'
But he warned that as tensions heighten, it is the South Korean population which is currently at the greatest risk from Pyongyang.
Wilder said: 'Seoul is within artillery range of the demilitarised zone. We know that this is a dangerous situation for the South Korean people and the 10 million people there.'
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