Russia’s ambassador to North Korea said the country was rapidly increasing its military arsenal after a year marked by sabre-rattling, missile tests and threats of a direct attack on the US mainland.
Aleksandr Matsegora said Mr Trump should think twice before making good on his promise to deliver “fire and fury” to the peninsula.
The ambassador said Russian specialists told him Kim was massively increasing his military power since the US President entered the White House last year.
Mr Matsegora said: “It can be said that the North Koreans have managed to achieve a serious improvement in their missile program over the past year.”
And he said missile tests over Japan were not simply a show of force but a deadly threat, with the possibility of a missile malfunction high.
He told reporters in Tokyo: “Nobody can guarantee that it cannot fail one day.”
North Korea fired 20 missiles of various sizes in 2017, the most startling of which were four sent soaring over Japan.
Japanese citizens awoke to terrifying text alerts telling them to seek shelter as air raid sirens screamed throughout towns and villages.
But Mr Matsegora admitted Pyongyang has no intention to “harm neighbour states” with these provocative tests.
Russia, historically one of North Korea’s closest allies, is concerned at developments in Pyongyang but still supports the hermit state over Washington.
Moscow argues against sanctions and satellite imagery captured in recent weeks appear to show Russian ships refuelling North Korean fishing vessels.
His warnings were issued on the day the US carried out an explosive military exercise near Hawaii – which ended in failure and humiliation for Washington.
An official speaking on the condition of anonymity said a dummy missile had been fired near Hawaii today – but a defence system intended to disable the rocket in midair failed.
They said the defence missile SM-3 Block IIA had been deployed from an Aegis Ashore site in Hawaii with the hope of hitting another missile fired from an aircraft.
However it missed the target and the mock missile fired in the war game continued towards its target.