- North Korea’s Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho has accused the US of declaring war on his country.
- White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders has called the allegations “absurd”.
- Donald Trump last week threatened to “totally destroy” North Korea.
- Kim Jong-un responded by calling Donald Trump “mentally deranged”.
Here is the latest news and live updates. All times BST.
7.40am: North Korea begins bolstering defences
North Korea has reportedly begun moving warplanes to its east coast after US bombers flew close to the peninsula over the weekend, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency.
US Air Force B-1B Lancer bombers escorted by fighter jets flew east of North Korea in a show of forced after a heated exchange of rhetoric between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un.
The unverified Yonhap report said the US appeared to have disclosed the flight route of the bombers intentionally because North Korea seemed to be unaware. South Korea’s National Intelligence Service was unable to confirm the report immediately.
6.00am: US denies it has declared war on North Korea
The White House has denied allegations that the US has declared war on North Korea.
Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders called the suggestion “absurd”
The claims centre around a tweet by US President Donald Trump, in which he warned that North Korea’s Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho “won’t be around much longer” if he “echoes thoughts of Little Rocket Man [Kim Jong-un]”.
Ri said that the threat amounted to a declaration of war.
“The whole world should clearly remember it was the US who first declared war on our country,” he told reporters in New York.
“Since the United States declared war on our country, we will have every right to make countermeasures, including the right to shoot down United States strategic bombers even when they are not inside the airspace border of our country.
“The question of who won’t be around much longer will be answered then.”
Ri’s words are the latest in a string of verbal missiles exchanged by the US and North Korea.
One week ago today, Mr Trump shocked the UN General Assembly by threatening to “totally destroy North Korea” if the US “is forced to defend itself or its allies”.
“Rocket Man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime,” Mr Trump said in his first speech to the Assembly.
“The United States is ready, willing, and able, but hopefully this will not be necessary.”
Kim Jong-un responded on Friday with an unprecedented video statement in which he called Mr Trump “mentally deranged”.
“Whatever Trump might have expected, he will face results beyond his expectation,” the despot said.
“I will surely and definitely tame the mentally deranged US dotard with fire.”
On Saturday, Ri echoed Kim’s words during a speech to the UN General Assembly, denouncing Mr Trump’s “reckless and violent words” and throwing back his accusation of being on a “suicide mission”.
“In case innocent lives in the US are lost because of this suicide attack, Trump will be held totally responsible,” he said.
“Due to his lacking basic common knowledge and proper sentiment, he tried to insult the supreme dignity of my country by referring it to a rocket. By doing so, however, he committed an irreversible mistake of making our rockets’ visit to the entire US mainland inevitable all the more.”
North Korea has technically been at war with the US since the Korean War of 1950-1953, which ended in a truce rather than a peace treaty.