HOW SCARED SHOULD WE BE?

N Korea threatens nuclear war ++ Putin taunts the West ++ Boris humiliated over Syria

NORTH Korea warned last night that it would unleash a nuclear attack if provoked by the US – as a powerful American naval force steamed towards the peninsula.

In the most alarming escalation of tensions yet, North Korean state media claimed the country’s ‘nuclear sight’ was focused not only on the approaching ships but also the US mainland.

The chilling claim came as Donald Trump fired off more Twitter threats, warning that the Kim Jong-un regime was ‘looking for trouble’.

The US President said it would be ‘great’ if he had China’s help – but that the US would ‘solve the problem’ with or without them. At the weekend, navy chiefs announced the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier would sail north from Singapore towards the Korean peninsula, instead of heading to Australia for port visits.

The force also includes guided missile cruiser USS Lake Champlain, and two guided missile destroyers, the USS Wayne E Meyer and the USS Michael Murphy.

Asked about the change of orders, White House national security adviser HR McMaster said: ‘Well, it’s prudent to do it. North Korea has been engaged in a pattern of provocative behaviour.’

Mr Trump’s press secretary Sean Spicer said last night that the President was keeping all options on the table regarding North Korea. However, as he had shown with Syria, Mr Trump did not want to ‘telegraph’ his intentions in advance.

Mr Spicer said the President had made clear Pyongyang’s weapons programme was ‘ not tolerable’, and that ‘the last thing we want to see’ is a nuclear North Korea threatening the US west coast.

He added: ‘We need stability in that region and [Mr Trump] has put them clearly on notice.’

The President also revealed he had offered China a better trade deal if it helped ‘solve’ the North Korea problem. In a further sign of growing alarm in the region, there were reports that China had sent 150,000 troops to its border with the secretive state. South Korean news agencies and Japanese websites said units from China’s People’s Liberation Army were being deployed along the Yalu River bordering the two countries. The troops were allegedly there to deal with the prospect of millions of North Korean refugees crossing the border – and ‘unforeseen circumstances’ such as the possibility of a pre-emptive attack against Kim’s regime.

However, China’s foreign ministry played down the reports, saying it was ‘not aware’ of such a mobilisation and that similar previous claims had proved false.

Talk of potential military action by the US has caused alarm in the Korean peninsula, even before last week’s missile attack on Syria. Pyongyang is thought to be preparing to conduct its sixth nuclear test. But rather than be intimidated by the show of American naval force heading its way, North Korea – which exists in a continual state of anticipation of US aggression – has responded defiantly.

Yesterday, it broadcast video footage of Kim addressing the newly convened North Korean parliament, the Supreme People’s Assembly. Experts said the return of the assembly, which meets once or twice a year to rubber-stamp the dictator’s decisions, was an indication there was no internal threat to Kim’s grip on power.

Condemning the approaching US strike force as ‘reckless’, the North Korean regime made clear that it sees the deployment as preparations for an invasion.

‘We will hold the US wholly accountable for the catastrophic consequences to be entailed by its outrageous actions,’ its foreign ministry said. It promised North Korea was ready for ‘any mode of war desired by the US’.

The dictatorship’s Rodong Sinmun newspaper suggested the vague statement was a reference to nuclear weapons. ‘Our revolutionary strong army is keenly watching every move by enemy elements with our nuclear sight focused on the US invasionary bases not only in South Korea and the Pacific operation theatre but also in the US mainland,’ it said.

South Korea’s acting president, Hwang Kyo-ahn, warned of ‘greater provocations’ by North Korea and ordered his military to intensify monitoring and ensure close communication with the US. ‘It is possible the North may wage greater provocations such as a nuclear test timed with various anniversaries including the Supreme People’s Assembly,’ he said.

At a meeting in Florida last week, Mr Trump pressed Chinese leader Xi Jinping to do more to rein in North Korea.

The US President said on Twitter yesterday that he had explained to China – Kim’s main

‘Our army is keenly watching every move’

ally and economic mainstay – that a trade deal with the US ‘will be better for them if they solve the North Korean problem’.

He added: ‘North Korea is looking for trouble. If China decides to help, that would be great ... If not, we will solve the problem without them! U.S.A.’ China and South Korea have agreed to impose tougher sanctions on North Korea if it carries out further missile tests. Yesterday a fleet of North Korean coal ships were heading home, most still fully laden, after China ordered its trading companies to return the goods.

Russia’s foreign ministry claimed it was concerned about Mr Trump’s attitude, saying: ‘We are really worried about what Washington has in mind for North Korea after it hinted at the possibility of a unilateral military scenario.’

A senior North Korean defector has warned that Kim is so ‘desperate’ to stay in power that he will use nuclear weapons against the US and its allies. Thae Yongho, the country’s former deputy ambassador to Britain, said: ‘Once he sees that there is any kind of sign of a tank or an imminent threat from America, then he would use his nuclear weapons’.

Mr Thae believes the country has ‘reached a very significant level of nuclear development’.