North Korea's vice foreign minister on Friday blamed President Trump for escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula through his tweets and expansion of military exercises, saying the US was becoming "more vicious and more aggressive" under his leadership than it had been under President Obama. In an interview with the AP in Pyongyang, Vice Minister Han Song Ryol also warned the US against provoking North Korea militarily. "We will go to war if they choose," he said. "We've got a powerful nuclear deterrent already in our hands, and we certainly will not keep our arms crossed in the face of a US preemptive strike."
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, meanwhile, says there would be no winners in an armed conflict between the US and North Korea over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons and missile programs. Wang told reporters Friday that all sides must stop provoking and threatening each other in their words and actions and take a flexible approach to resuming dialogue. "Once a war really happens, the result will be nothing but multiple [losses]. No one can become a winner," Wang says. Analysts say that while China doesn't believe there's an imminent risk of conflict, it will respond harshly if Pyongyang attempts another nuclear test. (More North Korea stories.)
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