steamed toward the region amid fears the North may conduct a sixth nuclear weapons test.
Concern has
grown since the U.S. Navy fired 59 Tomahawk missiles at a Syrian airfield last
week in response to a deadly gas attack, raising questions about U.S. President
Donald Trump's plans for North Korea, which has conducted missile and nuclear
tests in defiance of U.N. and unilateral sanctions.
The United
States has warned that a policy of "strategic patience" is over. U.S.
Vice President Mike Pence travels to South Korea on Sunday on a long-planned
10-day trip to Asia.
China, North
Korea's sole major ally and neighbor which nevertheless opposes its weapons
program, has called for talks leading to the denuclearisation of the Korean
peninsula.
"We
call on all parties to refrain from provoking and threatening each other,
whether in words or actions, and not let the situation get to an irreversible
and unmanageable stage," Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters
in Beijing.
U.S. ally
South Korea warned against any North Korean "provocation".
"If
North Korea conducts a strategic provocation such as a nuclear test or an
intercontinental ballistic missile launch, there is certain to be powerful
punitive measure that will be difficult for the North Korean regime to
endure," the South's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
North Korea
for its part denounced the United States for bringing "huge nuclear
strategic assets" to the region as the nuclear-powered USS Carl Vinson
strike group steamed closer.
A spokesman
for the North Korean Foreign Ministry's Institute for Disarmament and Peace
issued a statement condemning the United States for its attack on the Syrian
airfield.
"The
U.S. introduces into the Korean peninsula, the world's biggest hot spot, huge
nuclear strategic assets, seriously threatening peace and security of the
peninsula and pushing the situation there to the brink of a war," the
North's KCNA news agency said on Friday, citing the statement.
"This
has created a dangerous situation in which a thermo-nuclear war may break out
any moment."
North Korea,
still technically at war with the South after their 1950-53 conflict ended in a
truce, not a treaty, has on occasion conducted missile or nuclear tests to
coincide with big political events and often threatens the United States, South
Korea and Japan.
On Saturday,
it marks the "Day of the Sun", the 105th anniversary of the birth of
state founder Kim Il Sung.
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While Trump
has put North Korea on notice that he will not tolerate any more provocation,
U.S. officials have said his administration is focusing its strategy on tougher
economic sanctions.
Trump said
on Thursday North Korea was a problem that "will be taken care of" and
he believed Chinese President Xi Jinping would "work very hard" to
help resolve it.
Trump has
also said the United States is prepared to tackle the crisis without China, if
necessary.
He diverted
the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier and its strike group toward the Korean
peninsula last weekend in a show of force. (tmsnrt.rs/2p1yGTQ)
Worry about
North Korean aggression has also led to a deterioration of ties between China
and South Korea because China objects to the deployment of a U.S. Terminal High
Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-missile system in the South.
"It's
not hard to see that ever since the United States and Republic of Korea decided
to deploy THAAD, the situation has not become harmonious but has become more
tense," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang, said in response
to a question about the system.
South Korea
and the United States say the sole purpose of the THAAD is to guard against
North Korean missiles, but China says that its powerful radar could penetrate
its territory.
The dollar
fell on Friday against a basket of currencies, on track for a losing week as
tension over North Korea underpinned the perceived safe-haven Japanese yen.
Japan's
Nikkei business daily said the government had discussed how to rescue an
estimated 57,000 Japanese citizens in South Korea as well as how to cope with a
possible flood of North Korean refugees coming to Japan, among whom might be
spies.
In
Pyongyang, retired soldier Ho Song Chol told Reuters that North Korea would win
should there be any conflict with the United States.
"We
don't think about other things, we just live in our belief that we will win as
long as our Supreme Leader is with us," Ho said, referring to Kim Jong Un.
Kang
Gil-won, a 26-year-old graduate living in Seoul, said his biggest concern was
not North Korea, but finding work in a tough job market.
"There’s
no concern that war is going to break out tomorrow," he told Reuters at a
"study café" where many young job seekers prepare for interviews.
"Getting
a job is a war that I feel in my bones."
Many South
Koreans, meanwhile, marked "Black Day" on Friday, but it had nothing
to do with worry about North Korea.
Black Day is
a day for singles, marked by eating "jajangmyeon", a noodle dish
topped with a thick sauce made of black beans. It's celebrated by singles as a
response to "White Day", an Asian Valentine's Day which falls a month
earlier, on March 14.
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