Trump threatens North Korea with "big trouble" over Guam

Moscow said the exchange of threats between Washington and Pyongyang "worry us very much".

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov rated the risk of military conflict as "very high" as he put forward a joint Russian-Chinese plan to defuse the crisis.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said there was no military solution, and "an escalation of the rhetoric is the wrong answer."

(Media caption : It's not the first time North Korea has made threats against Guam )

Asked about his "locked and loaded" tweet on Friday, Mr Trump told reporters: "I hope that they [North Korea] are going to fully understand the gravity of what I said, and what I said is what I mean… those words are very, very easy to understand."

He added: "If he [Kim Jong-un] utters one threat in the form of an overt threat... with respect to Guam or anyplace else that's an American territory or an American ally he will truly regret it and he will regret it fast."

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Earlier in the week, Mr Trump threatened to rain "fire and fury" on Pyongyang.

( Mattis: "The tragedy of war is known... it would be catastrophic" )

On Friday, North Korea's official KCNA news agency accused Washington of a "criminal attempt to impose nuclear disaster upon the Korean nation".

Pyongyang's media outlet said America was making "desperate efforts" to test weapons in the Korean peninsula.

The US is "the mastermind of nuclear threat, the heinous nuclear war fanatic", the report said.

( Media caption Who's in Trump's good and bad books? )

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