Pyongyang will shower fire on US: N Korea minister

North Korea will "shower fire" on the US in response to the threats by its President Donald Trump, the regime's Foreign Minister has said. North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho made his remarks in an interview to the Russian news agency TASS on Wednesday. His statement follows weeks of escalating tensions between North Korea and the US, fuelled by Pyongyang's repeated nuclear tests and Trump's tough talk.

"It is the steadfast will of all the service personnel and people of the DPRK (North Korea) to shower fire on the US," Ri said.

The North Korean Foreign Minister attended the regular session of the UN General Assembly in September, during which Trump threatened to "totally destroy" North Korea over its weapons programme, including the September 3 nuclear test. Citing Trump's UN speech, Ri said: "By his bellicose and insane statement in the UN arena, Trump -- it can be said -- lit the wick of the war against us."

"We need to settle the final score, only with a hail of fire, Ri, who had called Trump "mentally deranged" after the UN speech, told TASS that North Korea was "winning" and represented "a worthy counterweight to the US". Echoing previous warnings by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Ri said that "the US should act sensibly and stop touching us if they do not want to disgrace themselves in the face of the whole world", and added that his nation's forces "will not leave America, the aggressor state, unpunished".