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Kim Jong-un’s regime has issued another chilling warning after a pair of US bombers joined South Korean and Japanese air forces for a joint training drill in the latest show of strength. US President Donald Trump has said that he would like to solve the North Korea crisis diplomatically and is even willing to meet Kim Jong-un in the right circumstances. But Mr Trump is keeping the military option on the table and has warned a "major, major conflict" with North Korea remains possible in the standoff over its nuclear ambitions. Tensions are continuing to escalate with North Korea threatening to carry out another nuclear weapons test and the US activating an anti-missile system in South Korea. As fears grow that World War Three could be imminent, here is the latest news and live updates on North Korea and the US. TO CONTINUE TO FOLLOW OUR LIVE UPDATES ON NORTH KOREA - CLICK HERE

Thursday May 4 11am BST: China has confirmed that it still wants to be good neighbours with North Korea in the wake of criticism from North Korean state media. In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said “China position on developing friendly, good-neighbourly relations with North Korea is also consistent and clear.” It comes after North Korea’s state-controlled media launched a stinging criticism of the way China’s state media has called for tougher sanctions. The KCNA news agency claimed Chinese articles had attempted to shift the blame to Pyongyang for "deteriorated relations" between China and North Korea. It also accused China of "hyping up" damage caused by North Korean nuclear tests to China's three northeastern provinces. 5.30am BST A Top US Senator has told Donald Trump not to speak with North Korean tyrant Kim Jong-un until the dictator scraps his prized nuclear programme. Colorado senator Cory Gardner branded Kim a “maniac” and a “whack-job” as he lashed out at the President following remarks made earlier this week. President Trump stunned the world after he said he would be “willing” and “honoured” to meet the ruthless despot amid simmering tensions around US Navy manoeuvres near the Korean peninsula and threats from of nuclear annihilation from Pyongyang. But Mr Gardner took a harder line, telling a US television station: "I think most people agree that Kim Jong-un is a whack job. Wednesday May 3 9pm Beijing called for both sides to keep calm and “stop irritating each other” a day after North Korea stated that the US was pushing the region to the brink of nuclear war. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said on Wednesday that UN resolutions were clear and further measures would be taken in the event of more nuclear or missile tests. Separately, China also reiterated its call for its citizens in North Korea to leave the country amid growing fears of a missile strike. The warning was first issued ahead of North Korea's Day of the Sun last month, when the secretive state was tipped to carry out missile tests. 8pm BST: An American academic has been detained in North Korea, accused of carrying out "hostile acts with an aim to subvert the country", Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) has said. The former accountant in California was detained at Pyongyang airport on April 22, as he tried to board a plane. A statement from KCNA, said: ”He was intercepted for committing criminal acts of hostility aimed to overturn the DPRK not only in the past but also during his last stay before interception.” Mr Kim is a Korean-American former professor at Yabian University of Science and Technology in Yanji, China. He is believed to have been working for a humanitarian organisation providing aid in flood affected areas of North Korea.

AFP North Korea leader Kim Jong-un

5pm North Korea’s state-controlled media also launched a stinging criticism of China saying that its own state media calling for tougher sanctions over the reclusive country’s nuclear programme were undermining its relations with Beijing. A commentary on Korea’s state media KCNA on Wednesday took aim at China, saying had attempted to shift the blame to Pyongyang for "deteriorated relations" between China and North Korea and U.S. deployment of strategic assets. It also accused China of "hyping up" damage caused by North Korean nuclear tests to China's three northeastern provinces and said the program was needed for the "existence and development" of the country and "can never be changed nor shaken." 4pm BST: US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has said the US is working on more sanctions to target North Korea if Pyongyang pushes things further. "We are preparing additional sanctions if it turns out North Korea's actions warrant additional sanctions," Mr Tillerson told State Department employees. Mr Tillerson said the Trump administration had been "leaning hard into China... to test their willingness to use their influence, their engagement with the regime." 2pm BST: America’s nuclear warning system DefCon remains heightened at threat level four as tensions between North Korea and the US escalate. 1.20pm BST: The Chinese Embassy is telling Korean-Chinese citizens living in North Korea to get out of the country, according to Radio Free Asia.

AFP Getty A streak of light splits the sky as the US military tests an intercontinental ballistic missile

11.30am BST: US military chiefs have carried out another intercontinental ballistic missile test over the Pacific Ocean. The unarmed Minuteman III missile was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, 130 miles northwest of Los Angeles just after midnight local time. 10.30am BST: China has called on all parties in the Korean standoff to stay calm and "stop irritating each other" after North Korea claimed the US was pushing the region to the brink of nuclear war. 9am BST: North Korea has detained American academic Tony Kim, 58 for "hostile acts with an aim to subvert the country", Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. The professor, also known as Kim Sang Duk, was arrested at Pyongyang airport on April 22 after a month-long stint as a guest lecturer at a Pyongyang University.

AFP Kim Jong-un, the North Korea leader

7.30am BST: Donald Trump’s praise of Kim Jong-un gives “disturbing credibility” to the North Korean dictator, former Repubilcan presidential candidate John McCain has argued. Mr McCain said: ”I don't understand it and I don't think that the President appreciates the fact that when he says things like that it helps the credibility and the prestige of this really outrageous strongman. It's very disturbing.” 3.30am BST: Kim Jong-un may be using nuclear weapons as an “instrument of blackmail” in his quest to take over South Korea, a White House official has claimed. The nuclear programme may also be designed to force the US “to leave the peninsula and abandon our alliances," according to Matt Pottinger, senior Asian affairs director at the National Security Council. He said: "They have made no secret in conversations they've had with former American officials, for example, and others that they want to use these weapons as an instrument of blackmail to achieve other goals, even including perhaps the coercive reunification of the Korean peninsula one day."

Getty North Korea LIVE: Latest news as Kim Jong-un threatens WAR on Donald Trump

Tuesday May 2 8.30pm BST: The US has revealed that a high-altitude RQ-4 Global Hawk surveillance drone has been rushed to Japan amid escalating tensions with in North Korea. 8pm BST: Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin spoke on the phone this evening and discussed how to tackle the threat posed by North Korea. The White House said that the two leaders "spoke about how best to resolve the very dangerous situation in North Korea." WHOSE SIDE IS RUSSIA ON? The Kremlin said: "The dangerous situation on the Korean peninsula was discussed in detail. Vladimir Putin called for restraint and for the level of tension to be reduced.” 7.50pm BST: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un issued a grave warning today when he said that the US is pushing North Korea to the “bring of nuclear war”. Speaking through a Pyongyang-based newspaper, he said his country is “fully ready” to use his “treasured sword” – nuclear weapons. The Pyongyang propaganda newspaper’s article also said: “The gangster-like US imperialists have gone extremely reckless in their moves to unleash a nuclear war on the Korean peninsula."

Getty The US THAAD anti-missile system in South Korea is now operational

4pm BST: Donald Trump's nominee to be the US ambassador to China - Iowa's Republican governor Terry Branstad - said that China can do more to push North Korea to curb its nuclear programme. During his US Senate confirmation hearing, he said: ”I think there's other things they can do diplomatically and economically to send a clear signal that they – as well as the United States and other countries in the world – do not tolerate this expansion of nuclear technology and missiles.” 2pm BST: The leader of Thailand's military junta said Donald Trump assured him that ties would become "closer than ever” as the US tries to shore up regional support. Mr Trump has invited Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte to visit the White House amid mounting US tension with North Korea. 1pm BST: Japan would be engulfed in radioactive clouds if nuclear war broke out, an editorial piece in Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of North Korea's ruling Workers’ Party said. In the article, entitled ‘Japan’s Reckless Act Which Drives Itself into Ruin’, it accused Japan of being the United States’ puppet. Japan has dispatched its biggest warship - Izumo - to safeguard US naval manoeuvres in the region as part of a ongoing show of force.

Explosive images as South and North Korea test their deadly power Tue, May 2, 2017 South Korea and US military held the integrated live fire exercise amid tensions over nuclear issues in the Korean Peninsula Play slideshow AFP/Getty Images 1 of 13 South Korean K1A2 tanks fires live rounds

11am BST: China is calling for the US anti-missile defence system, Terminal High Altitude Area Defence, to be removed from South Korea. America's controversial missile defence system THAAD is now operational in South Korea despite fierce opposition from China. "We will resolutely take necessary measures to defend our interests," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a daily news briefing. "We oppose the deployment of THAAD....and urge relevant parties to immediately stop the deployment." Beijing argues THAAD's radar could be used to spy into its territory, despite assurances from Washington that THAAD is purely defensive.

EPA A helicopter lands on Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force's helicopter carrier Izumo at Yokosuka Na

9am BST: North Korea said US bombers conducted "a nuclear bomb dropping drill against major objects" in its territory, while “US warmongers are crying out for making a preemptive nuclear strike". North's official KCNA news agency said: "The reckless military provocation is pushing the situation on the Korean peninsula closer to the brink of nuclear war." 8.30am BST: The US air force has confirmed that two supersonic B-1B Lancer bombers flew from Guam to conduct training exercises with the South Korean and Japanese air forces yesterday. South Korean Defence Ministry spokesman Moon Sang-gyun told a briefing in Seoul that Monday's joint drill was conducted to deter provocations by the North and to test readiness against another potential nuclear test.

US Army soldiers prepare for WAR against North Korea Fri, April 14, 2017 The US military's largest non-nuclear bomb killed dozens of Islamic State militants as it smashed their mountain hideouts, Afghan officials said April 14, ruling out any civilian casualties despite the weapon's destructive capacity. The GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb dubbed the 'Mother Of All Bombs' hit IS positions in Achin district in eastern Nangarhar province Play slideshow 1 of 11

Getty US President Donald Trump receives a a jersey from US Air Force Falcons football team

8am BST: Donald Trump has said he is open to meeting Kim Jong-un in the right circumstances, even though Pyongyang has suggested it will continue with its nuclear tests. “If it would be appropriate for me to meet with him, I would absolutely, I would be honoured to do it,” Mr Trump told Bloomberg. “If it’s under the, again, under the right circumstances. But I would do that.” But the White House stressed that North Korea would need to meet many conditions before any meeting between the two leaders could take place. Spokesman Sean Spicer said Washington wants to see North Korea end its provocative behaviour immediately, adding: “Clearly conditions are not there right now.” 7am BST: America's THAAD anti-ballistic missile in South Korea can intercept North Korean missiles but it has not yet reached full operational capability. The system is now operational but only has "initial intercept capability" so far, a US defence official told AFP on the condition of anonymity. Another official warned that THAAD may not be fully operational for months. Mr Trump has said: "It's phenomenal, shoots missiles right out of the sky."

WHAT IS THAAD? 6am BST: China's state-backed tabloid Global Times said in an editorial that the US should not rely on China alone to pressure Pyongyang into giving up its nuclear ambitions. April could prove a "turning point", the paper said, but "Washington ... must also continue to exert its own efforts on the issue". 5am BST: South Korea's acting president Hwang Kyo-ahn has called for military readiness and efforts to put further pressure on North Korea in the face of provocation. "I am asking foreign and security ministries to further strengthen military readiness in order for North Korea not to miscalculate ... and drive the Korea-US alliance and cooperation from neighbouring countries such as China to put pressure on the North," Hwang said. WILL DONALD TRUMP SPARK WAR WITH NORTH KOREA?

Getty U.S. Navy's nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Carl Vinson

AFP US President Donald Trump