Defiant N Korea hints at nuclear tests as tensions rise

North Korea suggested it will continue its nuclear weapons tests, saying it will bolster its nuclear force "to the maximum" in a "consecutive and successive way at any moment" in the face of what it calls U.S. aggression and hysteria.

U.S. President Donald Trump has said a "major, major conflict" with North Korea is possible over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs, while China said last week the situation on the Korean peninsula could escalate or slip out of control.

Trump told CBS' "Face the Nation" television show on Sunday that he's not going to talk about U.S. military options with North Korea because "we shouldn't be announcing all our moves. It is a chess game. I just don't want people to know what my thinking is. So eventually, he will have a better delivery system. And if that happens, we can't allow it to happen." He also called North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un "a pretty smart cookie" for being able to hold onto power after taking over the reclusive Asian nation at a young age.

"Now that the U.S. is kicking up the overall racket for sanctions and pressure against the DPRK, pursuant to its new DPRK policy called ‘maximum pressure and engagement', the DPRK will speed up at the maximum pace the measure for bolstering its nuclear deterrence," a spokesman for North Korea's foreign ministry said in a statement carried by its official KCNA news agency.

Meanwhile, a Japanese naval destroyer left port yesterday on a reported mission of escorting U.S. military ships off the coast as Japan tries to increase its military role amid heightened tension on the Korean Peninsula. The destroyer was to meet up and escort a U.S. supply ship in the Pacific Ocean south of Tokyo, a new mission under the new security legislation allowing Japan's military a greater role in overseas activity, according to Japanese media reports. They said that the U.S. supply ship is expected to refuel other American warships, including the USS Carl Vinson strike group, currently in the region.

Reclusive North Korea has carried out five nuclear tests and a series of missile tests in defiance of U.N. Security Council and unilateral resolutions. It has been conducting such tests at an unprecedented rate and is believed to have made progress in developing intermediate-range and submarine-launched missiles.

It test-launched a missile on Saturday which Washington and Seoul said was unsuccessful, but which nevertheless drew widespread international condemnation.

Tension on the Korean peninsula has been high for weeks over fears the North may conduct a long-range missile test, or its sixth nuclear test, around the time of the April 15 anniversary of its state founder's birth.

North Korea, technically still at war with the South after their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a treaty, regularly threatens to destroy the United States, Japan and South Korea and has said before it will pursue its nuclear and missile programs to counter perceived U.S. aggression.