Threats of all out war follows North Korea plans for more missile tests

North Korea will continue to regularly test missiles despite growing tensions with the US.

A senior North Korean official Vice-Foreign Minister Han Song-ryol told the BBC’s John Sudworth they would be conducting more missile tests on a weekly, monthly and yearly basis  and an all out war would result if the US military took action.

“If the US is planning a military attack against us, we will react with a nuclear pre-emptive strike by our own style and method,” Minister Han Song-ryol said.

“Our nuclear weapons protect us from the threat.”

North Korea has conducted several missile and nuclear tests in defiance of UN sanctions and has said it has developed a missile that can strike the US mainland. Its latest missile test on Sunday failed a few seconds after launch.

Han Song-ryol defended North Korea’s actions.

“We do not tolerate any others criticising our style of socialism.”

Earlier, US Vice-President Mike Pence warned North Korea not to test the US.

Read more: US drops ‘mother of all bombs’ on Islamic State hideout. 

He said his country’s “era of strategic patience” with North Korea was over.

Mr Pence arrived in Seoul on Sunday hours after North Korea carried out a failed missile launch.

Talking to media while in the demilitarised zone between North and South Korea, Pence said President Donald Trump was hopeful China would use its “extraordinary levers” to pressure the North to abandon its weapons.

He said the US and its allies would achieve their objectives through “peaceable means, or ultimately by whatever means are necessary”, in a drive to protect South Korea and stabilise the region.

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