North Korea holds drill to mark military anniversary day

The live-fire drills on Tuesday came amid the ongoing military exercises by the joint forces of South Korea and the United States. "North Korea is a big world problem".

Nuclear-armed North Korea on Tuesday marked a military anniversary with a massive conventional firing drill, Seoul said, as a USA guided-missile submarine docked in South Korea amid tensions over Pyongyang's weapons ambitions.

The South's Yonhap News Agency said earlier the exercise was possibly supervised by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Pyongyang has reacted angrily, threatening to sink the aircraft carrier and to launch a "super-mighty pre-emptive strike" against what it calls USA aggression.

Harris also says he doubts the North Korean people will rise up to topple North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. It was not known how he is marking Tuesday's anniversary. Pyongyang launched a missile one day after the 105th birthday of late founder Kim Il Sung on April 15.

Tillerson adds that the U.S.is not seeking regime change in North Korea.

The nuclear-powered USS Michigan submarine arrived at Busan, South Korea, in what was described as a routine port visit to rest the crew and load supplies. American forces conducted a drill with the South Korean navy in the Yellow Sea as well.

The USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier and ships in the strike group accompanying it are continuing to move toward the South Korea region, after completing a short naval exercise with Japanese ships in the Philippine Sea.

"We believe China has a very, very important role to play", said the USA envoy for North Korea policy, Joseph Yun. Trump spoke again to the leaders of China and Japan late Sunday to discuss the matter.

In the telephone call, Mr Xi urged all parties to "maintain restraint and avoid actions that would increase tensions", according to the Chinese foreign ministry.

"This is a real threat to the world, whether we want to talk about it or not".

"It's important for the DPRK to remind the South that very large swathes of the South Korean population are within artillery range of the North", he said, using the official name for North Korea.

"The status quo in North Korea is also unacceptable, and the council must be prepared to impose additional and stronger sanctions on the North Korean nuclear and ballistic missile programs", Trump said during the luncheon. One aspect of China's hardline stance is illustrated by the fact that China's state-run newspaper, The Global Times, declared on April 22 that Beijing would engage in deterrence through diplomatic means if the USA launched a surgical strike on North Korea's nuclear facilities, but that a Chinese military intervention would be unnecessary.

The reasons for the detention of Tony Kim, who taught accounting at the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, were not immediately clear. While it has not fired missiles against other countries, it has vowed strong action - including missile attacks against South Korea - if it is invaded by the South and the US.

USA ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, warned that Washington would not ignore North Korea's weapons' testing saying: "The United States is not looking for a fight so don't give us a reason to have one". It also launched a long-range rocket past year that delivered a satellite into orbit, which Washington, Seoul and others saw as a banned test of missile technology.

There are concerns that China's ability to secure a peaceful solution to the current spike in tensions has been damaged by repeated snubs by the North, which has ignored its calls to comply with United Nations resolutions.