However, U.S. officials told The Associated Press on Friday that the Trump administration has settled on a policy that will emphasize on increasing pressure on Pyongyang with the help of China, North Korea's only major ally, instead of military options or trying to overthrow Kim's leadership.
"Our toughest counteraction against the USA and its vassal forces will be taken in such a merciless manner as not to allow the aggressors to survive", read a statement from the army, reported in English by North Korea's official news agency, KCNA.
A spokesman for the North Korean Foreign Ministry accused the United States of "pushing the situation to the brink of war" and "creating a unsafe situation in which a thermo-nuclear war may break out any moment".
The North Korean government said Trump's decision to send a Navy strike force group to the Korean Peninsula and continue military exercises in the area are signs that that the U.S.is preparing for an attack.
Tracy sought to clarify Han's remark; "So you are saying if you feel North Korea is going to be attacked, you will use nuclear weapons?"
Pyongyang is under multiple sets of United Nations sanctions over its atomic and ballistic missile programmes, and has ambitions to build a rocket capable of delivering a warhead to the US mainland - something US President Donald Trump has vowed "won't happen".
"As for the nuclear test, that is something that our headquarters decides".
According to a report by The Washington Post, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that "storm clouds" were gathering.
CCTV said on its website that the last flight between Beijing and Pyongyang took place on Friday.
The North conducted two such tests a year ago alone. Expectations are high the North may put its newest missiles on display during Saturday's parade.
China, the country's sole major ally and economic lifeline, has come under increasing pressure to curb Pyongyang's militarism, but Beijing fears dramatic action could cause the regime's collapse, sending a flood of refugees across its borders and leave the United States military on its doorstep.
Mr Trump and China's President Xi Jinping have been in contact by phone since their summit last week in Florida, and Reuters quotes USA officials as saying tougher economic sanctions against North Korea are also being considered.
Bannon and Kushner battle it out for Trump's heart and mind
Politico reported Wednesday night that Bannon considered leaving his White House job after being removed from the council. Trump's action in Syria surprised many, coming just a week after two top officials, U.N.
Trump has threatened that if Beijing isn't willing to do more to squeeze the North, the US might take the matter into its own hands.
"Trump is always making provocations with his aggressive words".
The US says things must change as the superpowers lock horns over Syria.
"If the USA comes with reckless military maneuvers then we will confront it with the DPRK's pre-emptive strike", Han said, referring to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. If not, we will solve the problem without them!
Kim Jong Un didn't speak before North Korean television ended the live broadcast.
Han dismissed the suggestion Trump made past year during his presidential campaign that he was willing to meet Kim Jong Un, possibly over hamburgers. "So I think we have got to exercise some care here".
A North Korean foreign minister called the Syrian strike an "unforgivable act of aggression against a sovereign state" that the DPRK "strongly condemned".
North Korea Vice Minister Han Song Ryol said their relationship with the U.S.is in a "viscious cycle of escalation" and any military action against Kim Jong-Un's regime could start a nuclear war. "There is a reason no USA president in recent history has pulled the trigger on North Korea".
Kishida said that Japan needs "to be fully prepared to take various measures".
How much such comments are bluster, or how realistic they are, is hard to gauge. He said China is willing to support any such effort. "No one can become a victor", Wang said. "No matter who it is, if it wants to make war or trouble on the Korean Peninsula, it must take the historical responsibility and pay the due price".
The Institute for Science and International Security cited a worrying increase in North Korea's nuclear program, but said the arsenal may only have been as large as 13 atomic weapons at the end of 2016. The issue constituted a principal topic of conversation in his meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping last week.
Comments