Pentagon tells North Korea to stop the fighting talk as the crisis on the peninsula reaches boiling point
THE US has called on North Korea to stop the fighting talk as the crisis on the Korean peninsula reaches boiling point.
The Pentagon spoke out after a weekend in which the rogue state threatened the US and Australia with nukes and vowed to blow the pride of the American Navy out of the water.
"We call on (North Korea) to refrain from provocative, destabilising actions and rhetoric, and to make the strategic choice to fulfil its international obligations and commitments and return to serious talks," said Pentagon spokesman Gary Ross.
"North Korea's unlawful weapons programmes represent a clear, grave threat to US national security."
The statement came just hours after a North Korean newspaper said Pyongyang was ready to take out a US aircraft carrier conducting drills with Japanese destroyers.
Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the North Korean government's Central Committee, said the country is ready to illustrate its "military force" by sinking the "nuclear-powered aircraft carrier with a single strike."
The newspaper also claimed Pyongyang has weaponry that "can reach continental US and Asia Pacific region" and the "absolute weapon" - referring to a thermonuclear weapon (hydrogen bomb).
There is no actual proof this is the case.
President Donald Trump has pledged to rein in the "menace" of North Korea's nuclear program, and has spoken to Chinese President Xi Jinping about getting China, as one of North Korea's only allies, to put pressure on its neighbour to change course.
Trump ordered the USS Carl Vinson carrier strike group set sail to waters off the Korean peninsula in response to rising tension over Kim Jong-un's nuclear missile tests.
The United States has not specified where the carrier strike group is as it approaches the area.
"Our revolutionary forces are combat-ready to sink a US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier with a single strike," the Rodong Sinmun, the newspaper of the North's ruling Workers' Party, said.
The paper likened the aircraft carrier to a "gross animal" and said a strike on it would be "an actual example to show our military's force".
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North Korea will mark the 85th anniversary of the foundation of its Korean People's Army on Tuesday.
It has in the past marked important anniversaries with tests of its weapons.
It has conducted five nuclear tests, two of them last year, and is working to develop nuclear-tipped missiles that can reach the United States.
It has also carried out a series of ballistic missile tests in defiance of United Nations sanctions.
North Korea's growing nuclear and missile threat is perhaps the most serious security challenge confronting Trump.
North Korea says its nuclear programme is for self-defence and has warned the United States of a nuclear attack in response to any aggression.
It has also threatened to lay waste to South Korea and Japan.
Some Japanese ruling party lawmakers are urging Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to acquire strike weapons that could hit North Korean missile forces before any imminent attack.
Japan's navy, which is mostly a destroyer fleet, is the second largest in Asia after China's.
The two Japanese warships, the Samidare and Ashigara, left western Japan on Friday to join the Carl Vinson and will "practice a variety of tactics" with the US strike group, the Japan Maritime Self Defence Force said in a statement.
From there, it could take three days to reach waters off the Korean peninsula. Japan's ships would accompany the Carl Vinson north at least into the East China Sea, a source with knowledge of the plan said.
US and South Korean officials have been saying for weeks that the North could soon stage another nuclear test, something the United States, China and others have warned against.
South Korea has put its forces on heightened alert.
China, North Korea's sole major ally, opposes Pyongyang's weapons programmes and has appealed for calm.