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North Korea’s Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho has accused the US of declaring war on his country.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders has called the allegations “absurd”.

Donald Trump last week threatened to “totally destroy” North Korea.

Kim Jong-un responded by calling Donald Trump “mentally deranged”.

Donald Trump says SU will use 'military option' against North Korea if need be Here is the latest news and live updates. All times BST.

2.30am: Kim Jong-un continues to threaten annihilation North Korea has threatened a preemptive strike against the United States as they outline their determination to annihilate the Donald Trump imperialists to the “last man on this planet”. Sparking fears of World War 3 Kim Jong-un has doubled down on pledges to destroy the US. In a furious statement following Donald Trump’s threat to “totally destroy” North Korea, Pyongyang vowed to “tame him with fire”. Branding the President a “deranged hooligan” they warned the US can only avoid its “final doom” by rolling back hostilities. 10.30pm: South Koreas are stocking up on ‘survival kits’ As tensions between North Korea and the rest of the world continue to escalate, South Koreas are preparing for the worst. Worried civilians are reportedly stocking up on emergency supplies incase they are plunged into a war with their rouge neighbours. Hong Soon-chul of eBay Korea said: “There has been a recent surge in demand for survival kits. “We don’t advertise or market such items because it could raise unnecessary concerns but the demand is out there.” 9.45pm: North Korea boosts military amid rising tensions North Korea has moved a small number of fighter jets, fuel tanks and air-to-air missiles to a military base on its eastern coast, according to CNN. Amid rising tensions between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un, the move has been seen by officials as an attempt better prepare for a possible conflict. US satellites captured the manoeuvre and experts have predicted that it will allow the hermit nation to fly planes about 900 miles further east. 9pm: Joe Tambini taking over live reporting from Sebastian Kettley

GETTY Donald Trump threatened to destroy North Korea

8.19pm: Donald Trump vows to take 'devastating military option' against North Korea President Donald Trump said that the US is prepared to take "military action" to end North Korea tensions. Mr Trump, said: “We are totally prepared for the second option, not preferred, but it will be devastating, I can tell you that - that’s called the military option. “If we have to take it we will. “He’s acting very badly. He’s saying things he should never ever say but it’s a reply. “The things he’s said over the past year and to past administrations - North Korea is a situation which should have been handled 25-years ago, ten, five-years-ago. “Many administrations have left me with this mess but I’ll fix the mess.”

EPA North Korea latest: Donald Trump threatened military action against North Korea

7.02pm: World War 3 fears spike as Russia fires new type of warhead Russia has successfully carried out a test of an advanced Topol RS-12M intercontinental ballistic missile, Moscow's Defence Ministry has confirmed. The ICBM struck down a target in Kazakhstan, as tensions between North Korea and the US threaten to boil over. The missile test took place at the Kapustin Yar range in Russia’s southern Astrakhan Region. A spokesman said: "A combat union of the Russian Strategic Missile Forces test launched an intercontinental ballistic missile Topol RS-12M from the Kapustin Yar state central range in the Astrakhan region. "The goal of the launch was to test advanced ballistic missile warheads." 4.31pm: North Korea WILL develop nuclear ICBM, warns top US military chief General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is certain that North Korea’s nuclear programme is driven by the regime’s desire to survive. Speaking in front of a Senate Armed Services Committee, Mr Dunford also shockingly announced that Pyongyang will “soon” develop a nuclear-capable ICBM, and that it is only a matter of time. The general also said that the US needs to assume that North Korea has the ability to strike the mainland US, and will use this one day. It is likely that there will be no change in the posture of Pyongyang’s forces despite the recent rhetoric, Mr Dunford added. 1pm: Sebastian Kettley takes over live reporting from Reiss Smith

AFP/GETTY North Korea latest: A top military chief warns that Pyongyang will develop a nuclear ICBM

12.30pm: Russia to meet with North Korea Russia's foreign ministry plans to hold talks with a North Korean official due to arrive in Moscow on Tuesday. Earlier today Moscow claimed that the US approach to the crisis was a “dead end”, and that sanctions had almost been exhausted. 10.30am: US insists diplomacy continues US Defence Secretary Jim Mattiss has said that diplomatic efforts to tackle the North Korea crisis are continuing despite Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump’s war rhetoric. “We continue to maintain the diplomatically led efforts in the United Nations," he told reporters in India. “You have seen unanimous UN security council resolutions passed that have increased the pressure...on the North and at the same time we maintain the capability to deter North Korea's most dangerous threats.” 10.00am: Russia warns of ‘catastrophic consequences’ Russia is the latest to warn of the devastation a war on the Korean peninsula could bring, with a senior diplomat warning there could be “catastropic consequences”. Moscow’s foeign ministry is working "behind the scenes" to find a diplomatic solution to the crisis, Mikhail Ulyanov, the head of the non-proliferation and arms controls department at Russia's foreign ministry, told the RIA news agency. Mr Ulyanov added that the US approach to North Korea was a “dead end” and that the use of sanctions against Pyongyang had almost been exhuasted.

North Korea stages anti-US rally in battle with Donald Trump Mon, September 25, 2017 Tens of thousands of Pyongyang residents were gathered in the capital's Kim Il-Sung Square to laud leader Kim Jong-Un's denunciation of US President Donald Trump. Play slideshow AFP/Getty Images 1 of 12 Students march during a mass rally on Kim Il-Sung sqaure in Pyongyang

9.00am: China warns there would be ‘no winner’ of Korean war China has said that any conflict on the Korean peninsula will have no winner, after North Korea accused the US of declaring war. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said Beijing hopes that US and North Korean politicians can realise that resorting to military means would never be a viable way out. He added that Beijing disproves of the escalation of the war of words between the US and North Korea. 8.40am: Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un’s row could lead to accidental war The continuing war of words between the US and North Korea could lead to an accidental conflict, Stratfor Vice President of Strategic Analysis Rodger Baker has said. "The North Koreans assume that the threats will be enough to restrain US action but the US might be thinking the same thing, so you end up in a situation where a provocation from one side is seen by the other as an actual move towards war," he told CNN. 7.40am: North Korea begins bolstering defences North Korea has reportedly begun moving warplanes to its east coast after US bombers flew close to the peninsula over the weekend, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency. US Air Force B-1B Lancer bombers escorted by fighter jets flew east of North Korea in a show of forced after a heated exchange of rhetoric between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un. The unverified Yonhap report said the US appeared to have disclosed the flight route of the bombers intentionally because North Korea seemed to be unaware. South Korea's National Intelligence Service was unable to confirm the report immediately.

6.00am: US denies it has declared war on North Korea The White House has denied allegations that the US has declared war on North Korea. Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders called the suggestion “absurd” The claims centre around a tweet by US President Donald Trump, in which he warned that North Korea’s Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho “won’t be around much longer” if he “echoes thoughts of Little Rocket Man [Kim Jong-un]”. Ri said that the threat amounted to a declaration of war. “The whole world should clearly remember it was the US who first declared war on our country,” he told reporters in New York. “Since the United States declared war on our country, we will have every right to make countermeasures, including the right to shoot down United States strategic bombers even when they are not inside the airspace border of our country. “The question of who won't be around much longer will be answered then.”

GETY Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un

Ri’s words are the latest in a string of verbal missiles exchanged by the US and North Korea. One week ago today, Mr Trump shocked the UN General Assembly by threatening to “totally destroy North Korea” if the US “is forced to defend itself or its allies”. “Rocket Man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime,” Mr Trump said in his first speech to the Assembly. “The United States is ready, willing, and able, but hopefully this will not be necessary.” Kim Jong-un responded on Friday with an unprecedented video statement in which he called Mr Trump “mentally deranged”. “Whatever Trump might have expected, he will face results beyond his expectation,” the despot said.