"If the United States is planning a military attack against us, we will react with a nuclear pre-emptive strike by our own style and method", Vice-Foreign Minister Han Song-ryol told the BBC on Monday.
Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korea expert at Seoul's Dongguk University, said that the way US officials describe "maximum pressure and engagement" suggests that the Trump administration wants to ease Chinese fears about a collapse in North Korea, something that prevented Beijing from aggressively pressuring the North in the past.
The rhetoric from both Washington and Pyongyang has ratcheted up considerably over the past week, amid repeated declarations from senior USA figures that "the era of strategic patience is over" regarding the North's nuclear ambitions, fuelling speculation that the new administration could be considering a pre-emptive military strike on North Korean military sites.
The emboldened North Korean rhetoric was also delivered at a news conference at the United Nations on April 17, where North Korean Ambassador Kim In-ryong condemned the April 6 USA missile strikes in Syria, which targeted an air base following an alleged chemical attack by Syria's government.
Is the Korean Peninsula headed for war?
"You don't know exactly who you're dealing with". North Korea, for its part, remains on the alert against the possibility of a military attack or preemptive strike by the US.
The North has said such launches are an act of deterrence against a potential invasion by the US or South Korea.
South Korea, the USA and Japan held their 9th Defense Trilateral Talks in Tokyo on Wednesday. and subsequently released a joint statement highlighting that the three countries will work closely together to find an effective way to denuclearize North Korea.
North Korea's state television aired a show which ended with a mock-up video of missiles engulfing the United States in flames.
Sam Allardyce praises contribution made by Andros Townsend
They're in tomorrow for a recovery session and we'll assess it then", added the 53-year-old. Before this run, they'd won five games in 26 attempts in the Premier League.
Meanwhile, US Vice President Mike Pence reiterated his country's commitment to guarantee the security of Japan in facing North Korea's threats.
In a conference call on April 17, Acting Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Susan Thornton responded to questions about possible actions the USA could take multilaterally or bilaterally with North Korea to reduce tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
He added, "Now all options are on the table, and there they will remain".
South Koreans may be uneasy about North Korea's expanding arsenal of weapons, but many doubt that the country's leader, Kim Jong Un, wants to start a war that would likely end in the destruction of his government and the ruling elite.
He sounded the warning on Wednesday from the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, docked in Yokosuka, Japan.
"It is our belief that by bringing together the family of nations with diplomatic and economic pressure, we have a chance - we have a chance - to achieve our objective of a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula", he said.
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence is on board an American aircraft carrier stationed in Japan amid heightened tension on the Korean Peninsula.
"I think the path of negotiations with North Korea has been a colossal failure now for more than 25 years", Pence told The Washington Post.
Comments