The United States and North Korea on Tuesday clashed at a UN forum over their military intentions towards each other.
While at the forum, Pyongyang’s envoy declared it would ‘never’ put its nuclear deterrent on the negotiation table.
The debate at the UN began when the U.S. envoy said president Donald Trump’s top priority was to protect the United States and it allies against the ‘growing threats’ from North Korea.
To do so, he said, the country was ready to use “the full range of capabilities at our disposal”.
Robert Wood, U.S. disarmament ambassador told participants of the forum that the “path to dialogue still remains an option” for Pyongyang, but that Washington was “undeterred in defending against the threat North Korea poses”.
Fears have grown over North Korea’s development of missiles and nuclear weapons since Pyongyang launched Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM) in July.
Those fears worsened after Trump warned that North Korea would face “fire and fury” if it threatened the United States.
Trump’s remarks led North Korea to say it was considering plans to fire missiles towards the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam.
Trump responded by tweeting that the U.S. military was “locked and loaded, should North Korea act unwisely”.
A few days later, North Korean media reported the country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, had delayed any decision on whether to fire missiles towards Guam while he waited to see what the U.S. would do.
Meanwhile, experts warned Pyongyang could still go ahead to launch the the missile.
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