North Korea threatens to SINK US nuclear submarine carrying Navy SEALs leaving it an ‘underwater ghost’ after warships arrive at Kim’s doorstep
The Stalinist regime made the chilling threat as US warships moved to the tension-hit region
NORTH Korea has threatened to destroy an American sub - leaving it an "underwater ghost" - as Kim Jong-un and President Trump stepped up their war of words.
The chilling threat came as the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier group arrived in waters near the Korean peninsula, where it will join the USS Michigan, a guided missile submarine that docked in South Korea on Tuesday.
"The moment the USS Michigan tries to budge even a little, it will be doomed to face the miserable fate of becoming a underwater ghost without being able to come to the surface," the North's propaganda website Uriminzokkiri said in a posting.
"The urgent fielding of the nuclear submarine in the waters off the Korean Peninsula, timed to coincide with the deployment of the super aircraft carrier strike group, is intended to further intensify military threats toward our republic," the website claimed.
reports North Korean propagandists added: "Whether it's a nuclear aircraft carrier or a nuclear submarine, they will be turned into a mass of scrap metal in front of our invincible military power centred on the self-defense nuclear deterrence."
Subs like the USS Michigan are often used to deploy US special forces, like the Navy Seals.
Donald Trump thinks Chinese President Xi Jinping is "putting pressure" on North Korea, the US president said in an interview to air Sunday, as tensions mount over Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programmes.
If North Korea carries out a nuclear test "I would not be happy," Trump told the CBS television network's "Face the Nation" programme.
"And I can tell you also, I don't believe that the president of China, who is a very respected man, will be happy either," Trump said in excerpts of the interview released Saturday.
Asked if "not happy" signified "military action," Trump answered: "I don't know. I mean, we'll see."
North Korea test-fired a missile over the weekend in apparent defiance of a concerted US push for tougher international sanctions to curb Pyongyang's terrifying nuclear weapons ambition.
The latest launch, which South Korea said was a failure, came just hours after US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned the UN Security Council of ";catastrophic consequences" if the international community - most notably China - failed to pressure the North into abandoning its weapons programme.
'YOU'LL FIND OUT SOON, WON'T YOU?'
US President Donald Trump said he would not rule out the use of military force against North Korea, as Japan sent its biggest warship since WWII to protect a US supply ship.
When asked at during a factory tour before his rally in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to mark his 100th day in office what his message on North Korea is, Trump told reporters: “You’ll soon find out, won’t you?”
Asked whether that meant military action, Trump said: “You’ll soon find out.”
The helicopter carrier Izumo will leave the mother port of Yokosuka, south of Tokyo, on Monday and join the US supply ship to escort it further into the western Pacific, the leading Asahi Shimbun daily and Jiji Press reported citing unnamed government sources.
Trump said the failed launch was a show of disrespect toward its ally China.
"North Korea disrespected the wishes of China & its highly respected President when it launched, though unsuccessfully, a missile today. Bad!" Trump wrote on Twitter.
North Korea is seeking to develop a long-range missile capable of hitting the US mainland with a nuclear warhead.
China, Pyongyang's number one trade partner, has repeatedly called for a return to talks but has been reluctant to use economic pressure that could destabilise North Korea's struggling economy even further.