South Korea on Monday urged the United States to help dial down tensions with North Korea, after Pyongyang accused President Donald Trump of declaring war.
"It is very likely that North Korea will conduct further provocations," South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said in a speech in Washington, according to Reuters.
"It is imperative that we, Korea and the U.S. together, manage the situation... in order to prevent further escalation of tensions or any kind of accidental military clashes which can quickly go out of control," she added.
Meanwhile, China also weighed in on the tensions between Washington and Pyongyang, warning that things were spiraling out of control.
China’s UN Ambassador, Liu Jieyi, told Reuters that the escalating rhetoric between North Korea and the United States was getting too dangerous and the only solution was negotiations.
“We want things to calm down. It’s getting too dangerous and it’s in nobody’s interest,” said Liu.
“We certainly hope that (the United States and North Korea) will see that there is no other way than negotiations to solve the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula ... The alternative is a disaster,” he added.
Earlier on Monday, North Korea’s foreign minister, Ri Yong Ho, said that President Donald Trump’s speech to the United Nations last week and his subsequent tweets were a “declaration of war.”
“In light of the declaration of war by Trump, all options will be on the operating table of the Supreme leadership of [the Democratic People's Republic of Korea],” Ri said.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders later dismissed the claims that the U.S. was declaring war on North Korea.
“We’ve not declared war on North Korea and frankly the suggestion of that is absurd,” she stressed.
In his speech at the UN last week, Trump nicknamed North Korean leader Kim Jong Un "Rocket Man", and said he "is on suicide mission for himself and for his regime."
"No nation on earth has an interest in seeing this band of criminals arming itself with nuclear weapons and missiles," Trump said. "It is time for North Korea to realize that de-nuclearization is its only acceptable future."
Ri later said Trump had made an "irreversible mistake" and threatened the "entire U.S. mainland" with missiles.
Trump later fired back at Ri, tweeting, “Just heard Foreign Minister of North Korea speak at U.N. If he echoes thoughts of Little Rocket Man, they won't be around much longer!”