USS Carl Vinson exercises with Japan air force

But officials also announced that South Korea had started installing key parts of a contentious US missile defense system that also has sparked Chinese and Russian concerns.

“The situation prevailing on the Korean Peninsula is so tense that a nuclear war may break out due to the frantic war drills of the USA imperialists and their vassal forces for aggression”, Gen. Pak Yong Sik told a “national meeting” of thousands of senior military and civilian officials.

“If it flies, it will die“, Adm. Harry Harris Jr., told Congress.

He dismissed North Korea’s threats to sink the aircraft carrier and its strike group, saying “if it flies, it will die”.

Nikki Haley, Trump’s U.N. ambassador, said the United States is not looking for a fight with Kim and would not attack North Korea “unless he gives us reason to do something”.

United States President Donald Trump ordered the USS Carl Vinson carrier strike group to sail to waters near the Korean Peninsula.

“That’s my fault on the confusion and I’ll take the hit for it“, Admiral Harry Harris, who heads the U.S. military’s Pacific Command, told lawmakers.

Fears have risen in recent weeks that North Korea could conduct another nuclear test or long-range missile launch in defiance of United Nations sanctions, perhaps on the Tuesday anniversary of the founding of its military.

The THAAD system has been moved to South Korea in response to North Korea’s increased missile and nuclear tests.

“But I believe that we have to look at North Korea as if [he] will do what he says”, Harris said.

No voice at Friday’s session was more important than that of China, a conduit for 90 per cent of North Korea’s commerce and a country Trump is pinning hopes on for a peaceful resolution to the nuclear crisis.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Secretary of Defense James Mattis, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph Dunford and Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats are expected to conduct the briefing. As the North approaches the capability to hit the US mainland with a nuclear-tipped missile, the Trump administration feels it is running out of time.

After weeks of unusually blunt military threats, the joint statement by the agency chiefs said Trump’s approach “aims to pressure North Korea into dismantling its nuclear, ballistic missile and proliferation programs by tightening economic sanctions and pursuing diplomatic measures with our allies and regional partners”. The officials weren’t authorized to speak publicly about plans for the closed-doors briefings and requested anonymity.

Japan’s envoy on North Korea, Kenji Kanasugi, said after talks with his USA and South Korean counterparts that they agreed China should take a concrete role to resolve the crisis and it could use an oil embargo as a tool to press the North.

North Korean Defense Minister Pak Yong Sik said Monday that “the situation prevailing on the Korean Peninsula is so tense that a nuclear war may break out due to the frantic war drills of the USA imperialists and their vassal forces for aggression”, according to The Associated Press.

Washington and Pyongyang have flexed their muscles in recent days.

North Korea conducted live-fire artillery drills on Tuesday, the 85th anniversary of the founding of its million-person strong Korean People’s Army.

The guided-missile submarine USS Michigan is also now in port at Busan, South Korea. According to the Yonhap news agency, the parts include two or three launchers, intercept missiles and a radar. “So we will continue to work very closely with China”.

The Pentagon needs to consider deploying new anti-ballistic missile systems and a defensive radar to Hawaii to protect against a growing threat from North Korea, the top USA military officer in the Pacific told Congress on Wednesday.

The exercise “further strengthens the deterrence power of the Japan-US alliance, shows our country’s commitment to the region’s stability and demonstrates its advanced capabilities”, Defense Minister Tomomi Inada told a news conference. He said resolving the nuclear issue through “sanctions and pressure alone on Pyongyang is not possible”. China and Russian Federation have opposed the defense system, saying it undermines their own security interests.

Kim is at least the third US citizen in North Korea’s custody.