It has reached "touch-and-go point."
Al Jazeera report that North Korea's deputy UN ambassador has issued a warning to the US about the possibility of a nuclear war, claiming that the situation on the Korean Peninsula "has reached the touch-and-go point and a nuclear war may break out any moment."
Ambassador, Kim In-ryong, was speaking to the UN General Assembly committee on Monday and stated that North Korea is the only country that has been subjected to an extreme and direct nuclear threat from the US in over four decades.
In-ryong said that this on-going threat by the US towards North Korea meant that they had every right to possess nuclear weapons in self-defence.
He stated that their military exercises involve using nuclear assets and also suggested that the planned removal of their "supreme leadership" by the US was more dangerous than a nuclear war.
"The entire US mainland is within our firing range and if the US dares to invade our sacred territory even an inch, it will not escape our severe punishment in any part of the globe," he warned.
Threats between North Korea and the United States have been escalating over the past year and warnings have been issued back and forth between the two countries on several occasions.
Donald Trump has previously said that "North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States. They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen," and that the US was locked and loaded if they needed to take action.
However, nuclear war is not something the United States feel is imminent and
according to TIME, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Sunday that diplomatic efforts aimed at resolving the North Korean crisis "will continue until the first bomb drops."
