The United States says it is not at war with Pyongyang.
"We've not declared war on North Korea," White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters on Monday. “Frankly, the suggestion is absurd.”
Hours earlier, near United Nations headquarters, the North Korean foreign minister made that precise suggestion, referring to President Donald Trump's comment on Twitter that Pyongyang's regime “won't be around much longer” if the North carry out its threats.
Speaking to reporters, Ri Yong Ho said, “given the fact that this comes from someone who is currently holding the seat of United States presidency, this is clearly a declaration of war."
The foreign minister added that the United Nations and the whole world should clearly remember that it was the U.S. who first declared war on our country."
Ri warned that his country might shoot down U.S. strategic bombers, even if they are not in North Korean airspace. According to South Korea's Yonhap news agency Tuesday, Lee Cheol-woo, the chief of the National Assembly's intelligence committee, said that Pyongyang was spotted readjusting the position of its warplanes and boosting its defensive capabilities along its east coast.
Speaking at a security conference on Monday, National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster said the United States hopes to avoid war with North Korea “but what we can't do is discount that possibility.”