MOSCOW (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump has “lit the wick of war” with North Korea and his country will be made to pay with “a hail of fire”, a Russian news agency quoted North Korea’s foreign minister as saying on Wednesday. Tensions between the US and North Korea have intensified in recent months as the Trump administration has struggled to rein in Kim Jong-un's expanding nuclear and ballistic weapons programme alongside international allies. (Photo: AP) 
 
 North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho said Wednesday that President Trump lit "the fuse of war" after the U.S. president's speech at the United Nations last month, Russian state news agency Tass reports. “We need to settle the final score, only with a hail of fire, not words.” 
 
 Ri has previously called Trump “President Evil” and his comments are likely to fuel an escalating war of words between the U.S. President and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. During an address to the United Nations General Assembly in September, Mr Trump declared that the US would "totally destroy North Korea" if forced to defend itself or its allies. Josh King has the story (@abridgetoland) Buzz60 
 
 This Oct. 7, 2017 photo distributed by the North Korean government shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un speaking during a meeting of the central committee of the Workers' Party of Korea in Pyongyang. The speech came about a week after the UN Security Council had voted to ratchet up sanctions on North Korea following its sixth and largest nuclear test, with numerous other rocket tests having been conducted this year. “Rocket Man is on a suicide mission for himself.” 
 
 Tass said North Korea’s foreign minister has described the country's nuclear weapons and ballistic program as a “sword of justice” and represent a deterrent to protect the North from the United States. It didn’t, the day was very dreary Reuters 
 
 A spokesman for the North Korean Foreign Ministry said last month that the more sanctions the US and its allies impose, the faster the nation will work to develop its nuclear weapons programme, according to North Korea’s official KCNA news agency. “We have almost reached the last point on the journey towards our final goal - to achieve a real balance of power with the United States,” Mr Ri said. “Our principal position is that we will never agree to any talks in which our nuclear weapons will be the subject of negotiations,” he added.
– A day after the US flew two bombers over the Korean peninsula in a training exercise with South Korea and Japan, North Korea's foreign minister made incendiary comments promising "a hail of fire" against the US, USA Today reports. "With his bellicose and insane statement at the United Nations, Trump, you can say, has lit the wick of a war against us,” Reuters quotes Ri Yong Ho as telling Russian state media. “We need to settle the final score, only with a hail of fire, not words.” In the speech mentioned by Ri, President Trump vowed to "totally destroy North Korea" if necessary, the Independent reports. Ri also called the North Korean nuclear program a "sword of justice" that ensures the safety of North Korea and the rest of the region. He said the nuclear program is not up for debate or negotiation with the US. “We have almost reached the last point on the journey toward our final goal—to achieve a real balance of power with the United States,” he said. Ri said North Korea has “inexhaustible power that won’t leave aggressor state America unpunished."