North Korea: US is creating a situation for nuclear war

He told reporters that President Trump was hopeful China would use its "extraordinary levers" to pressure Pyongyang to abandon its weapons programme.

While visiting the demilitarized zone on the border between North and South Korea, Pence warned that the "era of strategic patience" was over, and that Washington would respond to acts of aggression.

"The time of dictating orders by brandishing the U.S. military might has gone", Mr Sin told the Qatar-based broadcaster.

Pence told business leaders before leaving Seoul that the Trump administration is reviewing all trade agreements as part of its "America First" policy.

"We'll be conducting more missile tests on a weekly, monthly and yearly basis", Vice Foreign Minister Han Song-Ryol told the BBC in Pyongyang.

"If one side has nukes and the other side doesn't, and they're on bad terms, war will inevitably break out", he said.

The second of the two ICBMs was mounted on a North Korean-branded "Taekpaeksan" military truck which used tyres made by China-based Triangle Group, according to photos of the parade seen by Reuters.

Trump acknowledged on Sunday that the softer line he had taken on China's management of its currency was linked to Beijing's help on the North Korea issue. "So it can not be put on the negotiating table with the aim to rip it off", he said.

North Korea accused the United States yesterday of "disturbing the global peace and stability and insisting on the gangster-like logic" as tensions increase on the Korean peninsula.

As tensions mount Mr Trump has sent an "armada" of warships to the Korean Peninsula. He said North Korea's measures to bolster its nuclear forces are self-defensive "to cope with the USA vicious nuclear threat and blackmail", and he said his country "is ready to react to any mode of war desired by the U.S".

Meanwhile, the U.S. waded again into military action, dropping a GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb (MOAB), the United States military's largest non-nuclear weapon, on an ISIS hideout in Afghanistan, the first time this type of weapon has been used in battle, according to USA officials. He says any use of nuclear weapons by North Korea will be met with "an overwhelming and effective response".

A former US ambassador to South Korea has warned that the regime's nuclear program has "accelerated in recent months". Multiple US officials said all current anti-missile ships and other ground-based interceptors in Alaska are available.

Trump's remark that North Korea has "gotta behave" was made off the cuff on Monday when he was asked whether he had any message for North Korea or its leader, Kim Jong-un.

Mr Trump's warning came after a tense weekend during which North Korea celebrated the birthdate of the regime's founder Kim Il-Sung with a massive military parade highlighting its growing missile capabilities.

The triumphant procession, meant to show off the nation's military might, was followed by a major embarrassment for the current leader. On January 19, U.S. intelligence satellites picked up signs of activity at North Korea's Chamjin missile factory southwest of Pyongyang, in an apparent readying of a test of two intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). While there, he stressed that military action against North Korea is "an option".

Two days later, as Trump prepared to meet his Chinese counterpart, President Xi Jinping, North Korea fired another ballistic missile off the coast of the Korean Peninsula, US and South Korean officials said.

"North Korea would do well not to test his resolve or the strength of the armed forces of the United States in this region".

The plan was for the vice president to stay inside the glass enclosed Freedom House at the DMZ and not step outside towards the military demarcation line (MDL), where North Korean soldiers are standing.

At the White House briefing Monday, spokesman Sean Spicer said the president is watching North Korea closely.

While Trump has employed tough rhetoric in response to North Korea's recent missile tests, the new U.S. president's options appear limited in dealing with a challenge that has vexed his Oval Office predecessors.

Pence said after meeting with South Korea's acting president that the US and its allies have attempted to "peacefully dismantle North Korea's nuclear program" for more than two decades. That represents a brand-new KN missile designation by the United States, which just weeks ago unveiled that it would be calling the Pukkuksong-2 the KN-15.

But her statement in parliament reported by Jiji Press and public broadcaster NHK is likely to be controversial in South Korea.