SEOUL: North Korea accused the United States on Tuesday (May 2) of pushing the Korean peninsula to the brink of nuclear war after a pair of strategic U.S. bombers flew over the area in a training drill with the South Korean air force.

The two supersonic B-1B Lancer bombers were deployed amid rising tensions over North Korea's dogged pursuit of its nuclear and missile programmes in defiance of United Nations sanctions and pressure from the United States.

The flight of the two bombers on Monday came as U.S. President Donald Trump said he was open to meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in the appropriate circumstances, even though Pyongyang suggested it would continue with its nuclear tests.

South Korean Defence Ministry spokesman Moon Sang Gyun told a briefing in Seoul that Monday's joint drill was conducted to deter provocations by the North and to test readiness against another potential nuclear test.

The U.S. air force said in a statement the bombers had flown from Guam to conduct training exercises with the South Korean and Japanese air forces.

North Korea said the bombers conducted "a nuclear bomb dropping drill against major objects" in its territory at a time when Trump and "other U.S. warmongers are crying out for making a preemptive nuclear strike" on the North.

"The reckless military provocation is pushing the situation on the Korean peninsula closer to the brink of nuclear war," the North's official KCNA news agency said on Tuesday.

Tensions on the Korean peninsula have been high for weeks, driven by concerns that the North might conduct its sixth nuclear test in defiance of pressure from the United States and Pyongyang's sole major ally, China.

China's Global Times, a state-backed tabloid that does not necessarily reflect national policy, said in an editorial late on Monday that the United States should not rely on China alone to pressure Pyongyang into giving up its nuclear ambitions.

April could prove a "turning point", the paper said, but "Washington ... must also continue to exert its own efforts on the issue".

It was widely feared North Korea could conduct its sixth nuclear test on or around Apr 15 to celebrate the anniversary of the birth of the North's founding leader, Kim Il Sung, or on Apr 25 to coincide with the 85th anniversary of the foundation of its Korean People's Army.

The North has conducted such tests or missile launches to mark significant events in the past.

Instead, North Korea conducted an annual military parade, featuring a display of missiles, on Ap 15 and then a large, live-fire artillery drill 10 days later.

Trump said on Monday he would be "honoured" to meet the North's young leader.

"If it would be appropriate for me to meet with him, I would absolutely, I would be honoured to do it," Trump told Bloomberg News in comments that drew criticism in Washington.

Trump did not say what conditions would needed for such a meeting to occur or when it could happen. The White House said later North Korea would need to meet many conditions before it could be contemplated.

"Clearly conditions are not there right now," White House spokesman Sean Spicer said.

"I don’t see this happening anytime soon."

Trump warned in an interview with Reuters on Thursday that a "major, major conflict" with North Korea was possible, while China said last week the situation on the Korean peninsula could escalate or slip out of control.

In a show of force, the United States has already sent an aircraft carrier strike group, led by the USS Carl Vinson, to waters off the Korean peninsula to conduct drills with South Korea and Japan.

The U.S. military's THAAD anti-missile defence system has reached initial operational capacity in South Korea, U.S. officials told Reuters, although they cautioned that it would not be fully operational for some months.

North Korea test-launched a missile on Saturday that appeared to have failed within minutes, its fourth successive failed launch since March. It has conducted two nuclear tests and a series of missile-related activities at an unprecedented pace since the beginning of last year.

The North is technically still at war with the South after their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a treaty, and regularly threatens to destroy the United States, Japan and South Korea.</s>North Korea accused the United States on Tuesday of pushing the Korean peninsula to the brink of nuclear war after a pair of strategic U.S. bombers flew over the area in a training drill with the South Korean air force.

The two supersonic B-1B Lancer bombers were deployed amid rising tensions over North Korea's dogged pursuit of its nuclear and missile programs in defiance of United Nations sanctions and pressure from the United States.

The flight of the two bombers on Monday came as U.S. President Donald Trump said he was open to meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in the appropriate circumstances, even though Pyongyang suggested it would continue with its nuclear tests.

South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Moon Sang-gyun told a briefing in Seoul that Monday's joint drill was conducted to deter provocations by the North and to test readiness against another potential nuclear test.

The U.S. air force said in a statement the bombers had flown from Guam to conduct training exercises with the South Korean and Japanese air forces.

North Korea said the bombers conducted "a nuclear bomb dropping drill against major objects" in its territory at a time when Trump and "other U.S. warmongers are crying out for making a preemptive nuclear strike" on the North.

"The reckless military provocation is pushing the situation on the Korean peninsula closer to the brink of nuclear war," the North's official KCNA news agency said on Tuesday.

Tensions on the Korean peninsula have been high for weeks, driven by concerns that the North might conduct its sixth nuclear test in defiance of pressure from the United States and Pyongyang's sole major ally, China.

Despite that, Trump said he would be "honored" to meet the North's young leader.

"If it would be appropriate for me to meet with him, I would absolutely, I would be honored to do it," Trump told Bloomberg News in comments that drew criticism in Washington.

Trump did not say what conditions would need to be met for any such meeting to occur or when it could happen, but the White House said later North Korea would need to meet many conditions before a meeting could be contemplated.

"Clearly conditions are not there right now," White House spokesman Sean Spicer said.

"I don’t see this happening anytime soon."

Trump warned in an interview with Reuters on Thursday that a "major, major conflict" with North Korea was possible, while China said last week the situation on the Korean peninsula could escalate or slip out of control.

In a show of force, the United States has already sent an aircraft carrier strike group, led by the USS Carl Vinson, to waters off the Korean peninsula to conduct drills with South Korea and Japan.

North Korea test-launched a missile on Saturday that appeared to have failed within minutes, its fourth successive failed launch since March. It has conducted two nuclear tests and a series of missile-related activities at an unprecedented pace since the beginning of last year.

The North is technically still at war with the South after their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a treaty, and regularly threatens to destroy the United States, Japan and South Korea.</s>Tuesday, May 2, 2017 at 3:18 am |

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea accused the United States on Tuesday of pushing the Korean peninsula to the brink of nuclear war after a pair of strategic U.S. bombers flew training drills with the South Korean and Japanese air forces in another show of strength.

The two supersonic B-1B Lancer bombers were deployed amid rising tensions over North Korea’s dogged pursuit of its nuclear and missile programs in defiance of United Nations sanctions and pressure from the United States.

The flight of the two bombers on Monday came as U.S. President Donald Trump said he was open to meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in the right circumstances, and as his CIA director landed in South Korea for talks.

South Korean Defence Ministry spokesman Moon Sang-gyun told a press briefing in Seoul that Monday’s joint drill was conducted to deter provocations by the North and to test readiness against another potential nuclear test.

The U.S. Air Force said in a statement that the bombers had flown from Guam to conduct training exercises with the South Korean and Japanese air forces.

North Korea said the bombers conducted “a nuclear bomb-dropping drill against major objects” in its territory at a time when Trump and “other U.S. warmongers are crying out for making a preemptive nuclear strike” on the North.

“The reckless military provocation is pushing the situation on the Korean peninsula closer to the brink of nuclear war,” the North’s official KCNA news agency said on Tuesday.

Tensions on the Korean peninsula have been high for weeks, driven by concerns that the North might conduct its sixth nuclear test in defiance of pressure from the United States and Pyongyang’s sole major ally, China.

China’s Global Times, a state-backed tabloid that does not necessarily reflect national policy, said in an editorial late on Monday the United States should not rely on China alone to pressure Pyongyang into giving up its nuclear ambitions.

April could prove a “turning point,” the paper said, but “Washington … must also continue to exert its own efforts on the issue.”

It was widely feared that North Korea could conduct its sixth nuclear test on or around April 15 to celebrate the anniversary of the birth of the North’s founding leader, Kim Il Sung, or on April 25 to coincide with the 85th anniversary of the foundation of its Korean People’s Army.

The North has conducted such tests or missile launches to mark significant events in the past.

Instead, North Korea conducted an annual military parade, featuring a display of missiles, on April 15 and then a large, live-fire artillery drill 10 days later.

South Korea’s acting president Hwang Kyo-ahn called for stronger vigilance because of continuing provocation by Seoul’s poor and isolated neighbor, and for countries such as China to increase pressure on the North.

“I am asking foreign and security ministries to further strengthen military readiness in order for North Korea not to miscalculate,” Hwang told a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

Soon after Hwang spoke, a U.S. Embassy spokesman in Seoul said the director of the CIA, Mike Pompeo, was in South Korea for meetings with the embassy and U.S. forces in Korea.

The Yonhap news agency, citing unidentified government sources, had earlier reported that Pompeo met South Korea’s intelligence chief and a senior presidential official. South Korean officials would not confirm the report.

Trump said on Monday he would be “honored” to meet North Korea’s young leader.

“If it would be appropriate for me to meet with him, I would absolutely, I would be honored to do it,” Trump told Bloomberg News in comments that drew criticism in Washington.

Trump did not say what conditions would be needed for such a meeting to occur or when it could happen. The White House said later North Korea would need to meet many conditions before it could be contemplated.

“Clearly conditions are not there right now,” White House spokesman Sean Spicer said.

Trump warned in an interview with Reuters last Thursday that a “major, major conflict” with North Korea was possible, while China said last week the situation on the Korean peninsula could escalate or slip out of control.

In a show of force, the United States has already sent an aircraft carrier strike group, led by the USS Carl Vinson, to waters off the Korean peninsula to conduct drills with South Korea and Japan.

The U.S. military’s THAAD antimissile defense system has reached initial operational capacity in South Korea, U.S. officials told Reuters, although they cautioned that it would not be fully operational for some months.

North Korea test-launched a missile on Saturday that appeared to have failed within minutes, its fourth successive failed launch since March. It has conducted two nuclear tests and a series of missile-related activities at an unprecedented pace since the beginning of last year.

The North is technically still at war with the South after their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a treaty, and regularly threatens to destroy the United States, Japan and South Korea.</s>Tensions high as US forces in South Korea announce activation of missile defence system while Kim regime condemns ‘aggression and hysteria’

North Korea has vowed to accelerate its nuclear weapons programme to “maximum pace” and test a nuclear device “at any time” in response to Donald Trump’s aggressive stance towards the regime.



The warning came as US military officials said a controversial missile defence system was now “operational” after being installed at a site in South Korea last week. The Terminal High Altitude Area Defence system – or Thaad – is designed to locate and intercept North Korean missiles in mid-flight, but its deployment has been met with opposition by China and confusion over who should foot the billion-dollar bill.

US Forces Korea said Thaad was “operational and has the ability to intercept North Korean missiles and defend [South Korea]”. But a US defence official told AFP the system had only “reached initial intercept capability” and more hardware would be added later this year to make it fully functional.

North Korea vowed to continue its nuclear tests in the face of what it called US “aggression and hysteria” – a reference to joint US-South Korean military drills that the North said were taking the peninsula “to the brink of nuclear war”.

Operation Foal Eagle has just ended but the USS Carl Vinson carrier group, sent to waters off the Korean peninsula, has held exercises with the Japanese and South Korean navies in recent days.

Under controversial security laws passed in 2015, Japan on Monday sent its biggest warship to escort a US supply vessel that will later join up with the carrier group.

The Izumo, whose flight deck can accommodate up to nine helicopters, left Yokosuka port near Tokyo on Monday and will accompany the supply ship for two days as far as waters off Shikoku island in western Japan, according to the Kyodo news agency.

The US vessel is then expected to deliver fuel to the Carl Vinson and other American vessels in the region.

Tensions on the Korean peninsula have been running high, with speculation last month that North Korea would test a nuclear weapon or long-range ballistic missile – provocations that Trump warned could be met with a military response.

Using the official name for the country, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), a North Korean foreign ministry spokesman said in a statement carried by the official KCNA news agency that unless Washington ended its “hostile policy” North Korea “would continue to bolster its military capabilities for self-defence and pre-emptive nuclear attack”.

The spokesman added: “Now that the US is kicking up the overall racket for sanctions and pressure against DPRK, pursuant to its new DPRK policy called ‘maximum pressure and engagement’, the DPRK will speed up at the maximum pace the measure for bolstering its nuclear deterrence.”

The statement said “measures for bolstering the nuclear force to the maximum will be taken in a consecutive and successive way at any moment and any place decided by its supreme leadership”.

What threat does North Korea pose to South Korea? The North may have found a way to make a nuclear warhead small enough to put on a missile, but firing one at the South is likely to provoke retaliation in kind, which would end the regime. Pyongyang has enough conventional artillery to do significant damage to Seoul, but the quality of its gunners and munitions is dubious, and the same problem – retaliation from the South and its allies - remains. In the event of a non-nuclear attack, Seoul's residents would act on years of experience of civil defence drills, and rush to the bomb shelters dotted around the city, increasing their chances of survival.





In Washington, White House spokesman Sean Spicer played down the prospect of a meeting between Trump and Kim Jong-un after the president said in an interview with Bloomberg that he would be “honoured” to hold talks with the North Korean leader under the right circumstances.

“Clearly conditions are not there right now,” Spicer said. “I don’t see this happening anytime soon.”

Senior US officials have declared an end to the era of “strategic patience” with North Korea and have not ruled out a military response if Pyongyang conducts another nuclear test or test-fires an intercontinental ballistic missile.

In the past few days, however, Trump has said in interviews that he would prefer to solve the standoff through diplomacy and repeated calls for China to apply more pressure on its neighbour.

On Monday a US state department spokeswoman said Washington was “open to credible talks on the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula. However, conditions must change before there is any scope for talks to resume.”</s>SEOUL: North Korea suggested on Monday (May 1) it will continue its nuclear weapons tests, saying it will bolster its nuclear force "to the maximum" in a "consecutive and successive way at any moment" in the face of what it calls U.S. aggression and hysteria.

U.S. President Donald Trump has said a "major, major conflict" with North Korea is possible over its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes, while China said last week the situation on the Korean peninsula could escalate or slip out of control.

In a show of force, the United States has sent the nuclear-powered USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier group to waters off the Korean peninsula to join drills with South Korea to counter a series of threats of destruction from North Korea, formally known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

"Now that the U.S. is kicking up the overall racket for sanctions and pressure against the DPRK, pursuant to its new DPRK policy called 'maximum pressure and engagement', the DPRK will speed up at the maximum pace the measure for bolstering its nuclear deterrence," a spokesman for North Korea's foreign ministry said in a statement carried by its official KCNA news agency.

North Korea's "measures for bolstering the nuclear force to the maximum will be taken in a consecutive and successive way at any moment and any place decided by its supreme leadership," the spokesman added.

Reclusive North Korea has carried out five nuclear tests and a series of missile tests in defiance of U.N. Security Council and unilateral resolutions. It has been conducting such tests at an unprecedented rate and is believed to have made progress in developing intermediate-range and submarine-launched missiles.

It test-launched a missile on Saturday which Washington and Seoul said was unsuccessful, but which nevertheless drew widespread international condemnation.

South Korea said the United States had reaffirmed it would shoulder the cost of deploying the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-missile system to counter the North Korean threat, days after Trump said Seoul should pay for the US$1 billion battery.

In a telephone call on Sunday, Trump's national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, reassured his South Korean counterpart, Kim Kwan-jin, that the U.S. alliance with South Korea was its top priority in the Asia-Pacific region, the South's presidential office said.

Trump, asked about his message to North Korea after the latest missile test, told reporters: "You'll soon find out," but did not elaborate on what the U.S. response would be.

Trump stepped up his outreach to allies in Asia over the weekend to discuss the North Korean threat and make sure all are "on the same page" if action is needed, a top White House official said.

"There is nothing right now facing this country and facing the region that is a bigger threat than what is happening in North Korea," White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus told ABC's "This Week."

The THAAD deployment has drawn protests from China, which says the powerful radar that can penetrate its territory will undermine regional security, and from residents of the area in which it is being deployed, worried they will be a target for North Korean missiles.

The United States is seeking more help from China, the North's major ally, to rein in Pyongyang's nuclear and missile development. Trump, in the Reuters interview, praised Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping as a "good man".

Tension on the Korean peninsula has been high for weeks over fears the North may conduct a long-range missile test, or its sixth nuclear test, around the time of the April 15 anniversary of its state founder's birth.

North Korea, technically still at war with the South after their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a treaty, regularly threatens to destroy the United States, Japan and South Korea and has said before it will pursue its nuclear and missile programmes to counter perceived U.S. aggression.</s>President Donald Trump opened the door to a future meeting with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, offering unusual praise for the globally ostracized leader at a time of surging nuclear tensions.Although the White House played down near-term prospects for such a meeting, Trump’s conciliatory comments Monday marked a departure from his more unforgiving tone toward the North in recent weeks. It marked the latest fluctuation as Trump’s administration struggles to articulate its policy for addressing the growing threat from North Korea’s nuclear program.

“If it would be appropriate for me to meet with him, I would absolutely, I would be honored to do it,” Trump told Bloomberg News.Clearly aware of the power of his declaration, he added: “We have breaking news.”

As a presidential candidate, Trump suggested he was open to meeting Kim, but hadn’t repeated the line since taking office. Fresh missile tests by the North and its progress toward developing a nuclear weapon capable of hitting the United States have made the isolated communist dictatorship one of America’s top national security concerns.

Deeming President Barack Obama’s “strategic patience” with North Korea a total failure, Trump and his aides say they’re taking a more aggressive approach, at times warning of potential military confrontation if the North doesn’t change course. The U.S. has even raised the possibility of a pre-emptive strike if Pyongyang conducts another nuclear test.

Yet on other occasions, Trump’s administration has dangled carrots. It has spoken of restarting negotiations with the North and even suggested resuming food aid to North Korea once it starts dismantling its nuclear and missile programs.

On one point, at least, Trump and his team have been consistently clear: A solution requires involvement by China, the North’s biggest economic partner. Trump is hoping China can pressure the North into a peaceful denuclearization. The administration of President Barack Obama unsuccessfully sought the same objective for years.

Trump’s suggestion of admiration for Kim, however, is something entirely new.He noted that Kim assumed office in his 20s and has held power despite efforts by “a lot of people” to take it away.

“So obviously, he’s a pretty smart cookie,” Trump told CBS’ “Face the Nation” in an interview that aired Sunday.

Tasked with explaining Trump’s flattery, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said there would be no meeting with the secretive North Korean leader until circumstances were right and numerous conditions met. He said Kim should have to alter his government’s behavior and “show signs of good faith” “Clearly, conditions are not there right now,” Spicer said.

But echoing Trump’s gentler tone, Spicer said Kim had “managed to lead a country forward” from a young age. Spicer didn’t mention that under Kim, North Korea’s government remains strictly authoritarian and dissent isn’t tolerated. Much of the country is impoverished and malnourished.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who has urged a tough approach to North Korea, warned that Trump would be legitimizing Kim by granting a meeting to the leader of a brutal regime. “The only time he should meet with him is to get the details of how North Korea will abandon their nuclear weapons program,” McCain told reporters.

Trump’s musings about a potential meeting with Kim were reminiscent of Obama’s declaration during his 2008 campaign that he’d be willing to meet without pre-condition with the leaders of North Korea, Iran, Cuba and other nations long at odds with the U.S. Republicans and Obama’s Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, criticized Obama for that statement. As president, Obama ultimately spoke by phone with Iran’s leader and traveled to Cuba amid an historic detente with the island nation.

The U.S. maintains no diplomatic relations with North Korea and the two countries are technically at war, as the 1950-1953 Korean conflict ended without a peace treaty. The North makes no secret of its intention to develop a nuclear weapons system capable of striking the U.S. mainland. In recent weeks, North Korea has conducted major military drills, test-fired missiles in violation of U.N. resolutions and taken preparatory steps toward a fifth nuclear test, steps that have fueled growing U.S. concerns and prompted Trump to send an aircraft carrier to the area.

The president’s latest comments on North Korea came as his CIA director, Mike Pompeo, was in South Korea, where tens of millions of people live within artillery range of the northern border. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson last week chaired a U.N. Security Council meeting and urged countries to ramp up sanctions and suspend diplomatic ties with the North to increase pressure.

For all the latest World News, download Indian Express App now</s>A North Korean short-range nonnuclear ballistic missile test failed over the weekend, the latest in a series of provacations from Pyongyang. And on Monday, North Korea committed to stepping up its nuclear testing program “to the maximum” — signaling it remains uncowed by U.S. pressure.

“Now that the U.S. is kicking up the overall racket for sanctions and pressure against the DPRK … the DPRK will speed up at the maximum pace the measure for bolstering its nuclear deterrence,” a spokesman for North Korea’s foreign ministry said in a statement, released through the state-run news outlet.

The statement added that such “measures for bolstering the nuclear force to the maximum will be taken in a consecutive and successive way at any moment and any place decided by its supreme leadership.”

Fears of another North Korean nuclear test remain high. President Trump, afted North Korea’s failed missile test, told reporters “you’ll soon find out” about the U.S. response. He did not offer any other details.

Trump also sparked a small international misunderstanding when he suggested South Korea, instead of the U.S., should pay for its $1 billion missile-defense system (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD), which is being installed and should be operational soon in South Korea, says the New York Times. National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster smoothed over the misunderstanding in a call to his South Korean counterpart, reassuring the ally that the U.S. would shoulder the cost, as agreed. Still, the missile-defense system has been a source of ire for China, which sees it as a national-security threat, and also within South Korea, where it has faced protests and opposition from some South Korean leaders.</s>North Korea warned Monday that it will carry out a nuclear test “at any time and at any location” set by its leadership, in the latest rhetoric to fuel jitters in the region.

Tensions on the Korean peninsula have been running high for weeks, with signs that the North might be preparing a long-range missile launch or a sixth nuclear test — and with Washington refusing to rule out a military strike in response.

A spokesman for the North’s foreign ministry said Pyongyang was “fully ready to respond to any option taken by the US”.

The regime will continue bolstering its “preemptive nuclear attack” capabilities unless Washington scrapped its hostile policies, he said in a statement carried by the state-run KCNA news agency.

“The DPRK’s measures for bolstering the nuclear force to the maximum will be taken in a consecutive and successive way at any moment and any place decided by its supreme leadership,” the spokesman added, apparently referring to a sixth nuclear test and using the North’s official name, the Democratic Republic of Korea.

The North has carried out five nuclear tests in the last 11 years and is widely believed to be making progress towards its dream of building a missile capable of delivering a warhead to the continental United States.

It raises the tone of its warnings every spring, when Washington and Seoul carry out joint exercises it condemns as rehearsals for invasion, but this time fears of conflict have been fuelled by a cycle of threats from both sides.

The joint drills have just ended, but naval exercises are continuing in the Sea of Japan (East Sea) with a US strike group led by the aircraft carrier US Carl Vinson.

The Pyongyang foreign ministry spokesman said if the North was not armed with “the powerful nuclear force”, Washington would have “committed without hesitation the same brigandish aggression act in Korea as what it committed against other countries”.

The statement reasserts the North’s long-running rhetoric on its military capabilities.

Seoul also regularly warns that Pyongyang can carry out a test whenever it decides to do so.

Pyongyang’s latest attempted show of force was a failed missile test on Saturday that came just hours after US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson pressed the UN Security Council to do more to push the North into abandoning its weapons programme.

Tillerson warned the UN Security Council last week of “catastrophic consequences” if the world does not act and said that military options for dealing with the North were still “on the table”.

In an interview that aired Sunday on CBS television network’s “Face the Nation” programme, Trump said that if North Korea carries out another nuclear test “I would not be happy”.

Asked if “not happy” signified “military action”, Trump answered: “I don’t know. I mean, we’ll see.”</s>Kim Jong-un’s foreign ministry has vowed that it is “full ready to respond to any option taken by the US” following comments from President Donald Trump that he had not ruled military action against the rogue state. A North Korean foreign ministry spokesman said: "The DPRK's [North Korea] measures for bolstering the nuclear force to the maximum will be taken in a consecutive and successive way at any moment and any place decided by its supreme leadership. "The US aggression hysteria has never reached such a height and the situation on the Korean Peninsula has never inched close to the brink of nuclear war as in the period of the recent drills.”

"The DPRK is fully ready to respond to any option taken by the US… [it] will continue to bolster its military capabilities for self-defence and preemptive nuclear attack with the nuclear force as a pivot.” According to the North Korean official, Pyongyang has been developing its nuclear capabilities to fight off any US aggression. It is believed to be a reference to the recent American air strike on Syria, which reportedly destroyed 80 per cent of its military aircraft.

The North Korean spokesman added: “The US would have committed without hesitation the same brigand-ish aggression in Korea as what it committed against other countries.” The comments from North Korea follow repeated shows of military might by the rogue state, including a military parade of suspected nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missiles to celebrate the 105th anniversary of nation’s founder, Kim Il-sung. Exactly 10 days after the show of strength, the dictator launched hundreds of ballistic weapons as the US and South Korea conducted joint military drills on the Korean Peninsula to celebrate the 85th annivesary of the Korean People’s Army.

On Sunday, President Trump warned Kim Jong-un that he “will not be happy” if North Korea conducts a nuclear test. The Republican said: “But we have a situation that we just cannot let – we cannot let what's been going on for a long period of years continue. “If he does a nuclear test, I will not be happy.</s>Washington: US President Donald Trump said he would be "honoured" to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un under the right conditions, dialing back threats of military action against the regime Monday.

As Pyongyang threatens to carry out a sixth nuclear test that would further enflame tensions on the Korean peninsula, Trump appeared to offer the prospect of a diplomatic off-ramp.

"If it's under the, again, under the right circumstances. But I would do that," Trump said.

ALSO READ | North Korea Warns of Nuclear Test at 'Any Time'

In recent weeks Trump has threatened and berated the regime, fearing it may be months away from marrying nuclear and long range missile technology — making a strike against the western United States possible.

Trump's main gambit has been to encourage China to use its leverage to pressure Pyongyang — a strategy that has failed to produce results in the past.

In the latest rhetoric to fuel jitters across the region, North Korea warned Monday that it was prepared to carry out a nuclear test "at any time and at any location" set by its leadership.

The regime will continue bolstering its "pre-emptive nuclear attack" capabilities unless Washington scraps its hostile policies, a spokesman for the North's foreign ministry said in a statement carried by the state-run KCNA news agency.

ALSO READ | US Says Time to Act on North Korea, China Says Not up to Beijing Alone

"The DPRK's measures for bolstering the nuclear force to the maximum will be taken in a consecutive and successive way at any moment and any place decided by its supreme leadership," the spokesman added, apparently referring to a sixth nuclear test and using the North's official name, the Democratic Republic of Korea.

- CIA director in South Korea -

The North has carried out five nuclear tests in the last 11 years and is widely believed to be making progress toward its dream of building a missile capable of delivering a warhead to the continental United States.

It raises the tone of its warnings every spring, when Washington and Seoul carry out joint exercises it condemns as rehearsals for invasion. But this time fears of conflict have been fuelled by a cycle of threats from both sides.

ALSO READ | North Korea Fires Ballistic Missile, Defying US Push For New Sanctions

The joint drills have just ended, but naval exercises are continuing in the Sea of Japan (East Sea) with a US strike group led by the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson.

CIA director Mike Pompeo was in South Korea on Monday, the US embassy in Seoul confirmed, following reports of an unannounced visit as tensions mount on the peninsula.

Pompeo's visit coincided with news that the controversial US missile defense system known as THAAD — whose deployment has angered China — is now operational in South Korea.

"It has reached initial intercept capability," a US defense official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

- 'A pretty smart cookie' -

Seoul regularly warns that Pyongyang can carry out a test whenever it decides to do so.

Trump on Sunday repeated his determination to resolve the threat posed by North Korea, warning in a CBS interview: "We cannot let what's been going on for a long period of years continue."



ALSO READ | In Call With Donald Trump, Xi Jinping Urges 'Restraint' on North Korea

But the US leader also offered some backhanded praise for Kim, saying he had faced a formidable challenge in taking over the country at a reported age of 27 after his father's death in 2011.

"So obviously, he's a pretty smart cookie," he said.

ALSO READ | North Korea Warns of 'Super-Mighty Preemptive Strike' as US Plans Next Move

That comment left the White House struggling to downplay Trump's apparent admiration.

"His point was he assumed power at a young age when his father passed away and there's a lot of potential threats that could have come his way and he's obviously managed to lead a country forward,” said Press Secretary Sean Spicer.
North Korea vows to accelerate its nuclear weapons programme to “maximum pace” and test a nuclear device “at any time” in response to U.S. President Donald Trump's aggressive stance towards the regime.