North Korea on Tuesday said the U.S. is pushing the Korean peninsula to "an extreme level of explosion."

“Now that the U.S. has openly declared its hostile intention towards the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea ... my country has every reason to respond with tough counter-measures as an exercise of its right to self defense," Han Tae Song, North Korea’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, said, according to Reuters.

Han added that the U.S. "should be wholly responsible for the catastrophic consequences it will entail.”

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North Korean officials are continuing to criticize the U.S. for this year's U.S.-South Korea military games.

Tensions between the U.S. and North Korea reached a high earlier this month after President Trump intensified his rhetoric against North Korea.

The latest comments come after the Pentagon on Monday evening confirmed North Korea had fired a missile that flew over Japan's airspace.