North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has threatened to sink the USS Michigan if it gets any closer to his waters. Photo/Getty Images
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has threatened to sink the USS Michigan if it gets any closer to his waters. Photo/Getty Images
Kim Jong Un has threatened to destroy an American naval submarine if it gets any closer to North Korean waters.
The USS Michigan, an Ohio-class nuclear-powered submarine, is currently docked at a naval base in Busan, South Korea, where it was recently joined by the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier group, according to Daily Mail.
North Korea's propaganda website Uriminzokkiri warned that if the USS Michigan "tries to budge even a little, it will be doomed to face the miserable fate of becoming a underwater ghost".
"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.
The propaganda website warned they were also willing to sink the USS Carl Vinson if it edged any closer to the dictatorship.
"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 centered on the self-defense nuclear deterrence."
The threats come as relations between North Korea and the US become increasingly tense.
President Donald Trump has hinted that America is willing to take military action if Kim Jong Un carries out another missile test after Friday's failed test-fire.
He admitted he "will not be happy" if Pyongyang conducts nuclear test.
"I don't know. I mean, we'll see," he said.
Trump is famously guarded about his strategic military thinking, but suggested that his administration will be the one to de-fang Kim.
"We cannot let what's been going on for a long period of years continue," he said.
"And frankly, this should've been done and taken care of by the Obama administration. Should've been taken care of by the Bush administration. Should've been taken care of by Clinton."
The USS Carl Vinson was seen heading towards North Korea on Saturday after Kim Jong Un carried out yet another failed missile launch. Photo/AP
On CNN's 'State of the Union,' Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona said the option of a pre-emptive military strike against North Korea must remain open.
Trump made the remarks on Saturday during an interview that will air on CBS' Face the Nation on Sunday and Monday on CBS This Morning.
The interview was conducted one day after the Communist government tested a ballistic missile.
So far, there has been no comment on the failed test-fire from North Korea.
But the failure would be a huge embarrassment to leader Kim Jong-Un who has a history of humiliating military misfires.
Earlier this month, there were claims a failed North Korean missile launch may have been "thwarted by cyber attacks from the US".
But it is not known whether the most recent launch was disrupted by America.
Trump said Friday that North Korea had "disrespected" China by attempting to launch another ballistic missile.
The president is counting on Chinese President Xi Jinping to encourage North Korea to give up its pursuit of ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs.
Trump says he is hopeful Jinping will intervene but threatened to go it alone if Xi fails to deliver.
On Saturday, he was asked if his threats against North Korea not to conduct further tests were working.
"Well, I didn't say, 'Don't test a missile'," the president said.
"[Kim] is going to have to do what he has to do. But he understands we're not going to be very happy.
"And I will tell you, a man that I've gotten to like and respect - the president of China, President Xi - I believe has been putting pressure on him also.
"But so far, perhaps nothing's happened and perhaps it has. This was a small missile. This was not a big missile. This was not a nuclear test, which he was expected to do three days ago. We'll see what happens."
A PAC-3 Patriot missile unit was deployed against the North Korea's missile firing at the Defense Ministry in Tokyo, Saturday, April 29, after the test fire. Photo/AP
When Trump was asked what he meant by "not happy," he said: "I would not be happy."
"If he does a nuclear test, I will not be happy. 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."
In a show of force against North Korea, the US has dispatched one of its aircraft carriers, the USS Carl Vinson, to the waters off the Korean peninsula.
It was spotted sailing north offshore Nagasaki, Japan on Saturday local time towards Korea.
Earlier this week, Trump said that the US could "absolutely" go to war with North Korea over its continuing nuclear missile program.
"There is a chance that we could end up having a major, major conflict with North Korea. Absolutely," Trump said ahead of his 100th day in office on Saturday.
Nonetheless, he said he wanted to peacefully resolve the crisis by preparing a variety of new economic sanctions - but added that he would not take the military option off the table.
"We'd love to solve things diplomatically but it's very difficult," he said.
On Friday, North Korea's KCNA state news agency blamed America for pushing the situation to 'the brink of nuclear war' while Jong unlabeled the United States a "blackmailing gangster" holding North Korea at 'knifepoint' by supporting its enemies and imposing economic sanctions.
North Korea routinely test-fires a variety of ballistic missiles, despite U.N. prohibitions, as part of its weapons development.
While shorter-range missiles are somewhat routine, there is strong outside worry about each longer-range North Korean ballistic test.
The efforts are the latest in long line of failed missile launches by North Korea - at least nine since Trump's inauguration in January.
United States President Donald Trump. Photo/AP
Earlier this month, the country attempted to fire a missile, which had just been unveiled as a game-changer intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) in a show of military might - only for the weapon to blow up four or five seconds after being launched.
North Korea had another failed missile launch in mid-March, when the missile exploded within seconds of being launched, US officials say.
North Korea has also test-fired from inland a powerful liquid-fuel midrange missile, which outside experts call the Musudan and which has the potential to reach U.S. military bases in Guam.
North Korea, technically still at war with the South after their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a treaty, regularly threatens to destroy the United States and says it will pursue its nuclear and missile programs to counter perceived US aggression.
But tensions between the North and United States have recently escalated with both North and South Korea conducting military exercises.
The US has looked to China, North Korea's biggest ally to interject in the situation.
Before meeting Chinese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the beginning of the month, Trump said if China did not intervene in North Korea, the US would "take care of it".
But Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said this week there was a danger that the situation on the Korean peninsula could escalate or slip out of control.
On Friday the United States and China offered starkly different strategies for addressing North Korea's escalating nuclear threat as Trump's top diplomat demanded full enforcement of economic sanctions on Pyongyang and urged new penalties.
Stepping back from suggestions of U. S. military action, he even offered aid to North Korea if it ends its nuclear weapons program.
The range of Tillerson's suggestions, which over a span of 24 hours also included restarting negotiations, reflected America's failure to halt North Korea's nuclear advances despite decades of U.S.-led sanctions, military threats and stop-and-go rounds of diplomatic engagement.
As the North approaches the capability to hit the U.S. mainland with a nuclear-tipped missile, the Trump administration feels it is running out of time.
