North Koreans placed floral tributes at the foot of giant statues of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il on Mansu Hill in Pyongyang on Tuesday as the country marked the founding anniversary of its armed forces.
North Korea has reportedly staged what appears to be its largest ever live-firing drill to mark the 85th founding anniversary of its military as a US submarine docks in South Korea amid growing concern over Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs.
According to Yonhap news agency, a government source said the country had deployed a large number of long-range artillery units and conducted a large- scale live firing drill in the port of Wonsan on its east coast.
Leader Kim Jong-un is also believed to have participated in the event, supervising 300-400 "long-range artillery pieces that can put Seoul and its adjacent areas within range".
"Signs are detected that North Korea's military is conducting a large-scale drill around the eastern port city of Wonsan on the anniversary," a source told Yonhap News.
The port call by the USS Michigan comes as a US aircraft carrier strike group steams for Korean waters and the top nuclear envoys from South Korea, Japan, and the US meet in Tokyo to discuss the North's refusal to give up its nuclear program.
Fears in recent weeks have risen North Korea could soon conduct another nuclear test or missile launch in defiance of United Nations sanctions. It state media commentary marking the 85th anniversary of the foundation of the Korean People's Army's that its military was prepared "to bring to closure the history of US scheming and nuclear blackmail".
"There is no limit to the strike power of the People's Army armed with our style of cutting-edge military equipment including various precision and miniaturised nuclear weapons and submarine-launched ballistic missiles," the official Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in a front-page editorial.
CHINA'S CALL TO TRUMP ON N KOREA
US President Donald Trump, left, and Chinese President Xi Jinping pause for photographs. Photo / AP
As the world braces for a possible North Korean nuclear test, Chinese President Xi Jinping has urged restraint in a call to President Donald Trump.
American's US envoy has warned of a strike if Pyongyang attacks a US military base or tests an intercontinental ballistic missile.
Xi's phone call with Trump came amid signs Pyongyang could soon conduct its sixth nuclear test explosion since 2006, or the latest in a rapid series of missile tests, further advancing its ambitions of developing a nuclear-tipped missile that could reach the US mainland.
In Washington, the Trump administration invited the entire 100-member Senate for a briefing on Wednesday on the escalating crisis.
Adding to the atmosphere of animosity, officials said North Korea has detained a third US citizen.
North Korea poses one the sternest national security challenges facing the three-month-old Trump administration.
The administration has settled on a strategy emphasising increased pressure on North Korea with the help of China, rather than trying to overthrow Kim Jong Un's isolated government or use military force.
But senior officials have repeatedly said that "all options" remain on the table.
China is a traditional ally of North Korea and fought on its side in the 1950-53 Korean War. Those ties have frayed, but Beijing remains the North's economic lifeline.
The Xi-Trump call on Monday morning Beijing time is the second time the two leaders have spoken by telephone since meeting in Florida earlier this month.
Xi told Trump that China strongly opposes North Korea's nuclear weapons program, which violates UN Security Council resolutions, and hopes "all parties will exercise restraint and avoid aggravating the situation" on the Korean Peninsula, China's official broadcaster CCTV said.
A White House readout of the call said Trump criticised North Korea's "continued belligerence" and the leaders "reaffirmed the urgency of the threat." They committed to strengthening coordination to denuclearise North Korea, a statement said.
The USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier and ships in the strike group accompanying it are continuing to move toward the South Korea region, after completing a short naval exercise with Japanese ships in the Philippine Sea. But the ships are probably several days from arriving in the region.
In addition to the Carl Vinson, the USS Michigan, a nuclear-powered, guided-missile submarine, is due to arrive Tuesday on a routine port visit at Busan, South Korea, a US defense official said.
UN'S TOUGHER SANCTIONS
US Navy aircraft carrier, the USS Carl Vinson. Photo / AP
The UN Security Council has to be ready to impose tougher sanctions on North Korea over its nuclear and missile programs, US President Donald Trump said on Monday, calling the status quo "unacceptable."
"This is a real threat to the world," Trump said while hosting UN Security Council ambassadors at the White House. "North Korea is a big world problem. And it's a problem we have to finally solve."
"The council must be prepared to impose additional and stronger sanctions on the North Korean nuclear and ballistic missile programs," he said.
The comments are sure to once again ratchet up tensions.
North Korea is pushing on with its ballistic missile program, believed to be preparing a sixth nuclear weapons test, and has detained a US citizen - the third to be held in the country.
At the same time, the United States has ordered an aircraft carrier strike group to the western Pacific, near North Korea. The group is due to arrive by the end of April.
The Pentagon said its leaders and other top officials will give a classified briefing on North Korea to US senators on Wednesday at the White House, rather than the usual secure rooms at the Capitol.
US Vice President Mike Pence is heading back to Washington after visits to Asia and Australia, with North Korea headlining talks.
Trump has intimated he is willing to ramp up US military pressure on North Korea while simultaneously encouraging China to use its influence on its ally, while rejecting bilateral diplomacy with Pyongyang.
"People have put blindfolds on for decades and now it's time to solve the problem," he said.
The US leader spoke about North Korea in telephone conversations with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Sunday and with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday, the White House said.
In the call with Xi, "the two leaders reaffirmed the urgency of the threat posed by North Korea's missile and nuclear programs, and committed to strengthen co-ordination in achieving the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula," a White House statement said.
