US military officials have said the USA doesn't intend to use force in response to either a nuclear test or a missile launch by the North. Kim's No. 2 official accused Trump of "creating a war situation" and said the North "will respond to an all-out war with an all-out war and a nuclear war with our style of a nuclear attack".
The White House believes that Sunday's test involved a medium-range ballistic missile that failed within 4-5 seconds after launch, and that it did not involve an intercontinental ballistic missile, the foreign policy adviser said.
The London-based Sunday Times reported that United States officials had briefed their British counterparts on Washington's preparations for war with North Korea.
It wasn't immediately clear what kind of missile was sacked from the city of Sinpo, but the failure will sting in Pyongyang because it comes a day after one of the biggest North Korean propaganda events of the year- celebrations of the 105th birthday of late North Korea founder Kim Il Sung, the current leader's grandfather. Analysts have said commercial satellite images from recent weeks indicate increased activity around the nuclear test site in northern North Korea. He added that Trump had no further comment to make on the matter.
"We stand alongside our worldwide partners in making clear that North Korea must adhere to United Nations resolutions created to secure peace and stability in the region and stop its pursuit of nuclear weapons".
Part of his mission will be to reassure allies in South Korea and Japan that the USA will defend them against North Korean aggression without acting in a way that might tip the region into open conflict.
A North Korean missile exploded during launch Sunday from the country's east coast, US and South Korean officials said, a high-profile failure that comes as a powerful USA aircraft carrier approaches the Korean Peninsula in a show of force. South Korea's Defense Ministry said it was analyzing exactly how the North Korean launch failed.
Speaking to the Sunday Times, a British military source, who had talked to national security adviser McMaster this month, said that he was aware that any USA attack on North Korea "would come at awful cost" because it would likely provoke retaliation.
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"My father served in the Korean War with the U.S. Army, and on the way here, we actually saw some of the terrain my father fought alongside Korean forces to help earn your freedom", Pence said.
An official aboard the aircraft told reporters that there was no need for the U.S. to take action because North Korea's missile had failed.
After visiting the DMZ, Pence is expected to hold talks with South Korea's Acting President Hwang Kyo-Ahn in Seoul.
Mr Trump has ordered a navy strike group flagshipped by a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to head to the region as a show of force as his officials assess tougher economic sanctions as well as military options against the North.
China, North Korea's most important ally and key provider of food and fuel aid, has sought to cool tensions over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons and missile programs, repeatedly calling for dialogue.
On Saturday, it marked the 105th anniversary of the birth of its founding president, Kim Il-sung, with a huge military parade in Pyongyang amid speculation that current leader Kim Jong-un could order a new nuclear test. That launch came shortly before Trump's first meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
North Korea's goal is a long-range nuclear missile that can strike the continental United States.
Washington sees North Korea's pursuit of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles as a threat to world security and to its Asian allies, Japan and South Korea.
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