US prepared for 'military option' on N Korea: Trump

The strong reaction from the US president came a day after North Korea said that it was ready to defend itself by shooting down US bombers.

North Korea's Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho, who was in New York early this week, had accused Trump of declaring war against his country.

"We are totally prepared for the second (military) option. Not a preferred option, but if we take that option, it will be devastating — I can tell you that — devastating for North Korea. That's called the military option. If we have to take it, we will," Trump told reporters yesterday in a joint news conference with the visiting Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.

Responding to a question, Trump said that the North Korean leader (Kim Jong Un) is "acting very badly". He's saying things that should "never, ever" be said, alleged the US President.

"North Korea is a situation that should have been handled 25 years ago, 20 years ago, 15 years ago, 10 years ago, and five years ago, and it could have been handled much more easily," he said. Trump said previous US administrations had left a mess for him to clear.

He said that North Korea's nuclear weapons and missile programme threatened the entire world with unthinkable loss of life. "As such all nations must act now to ensure the regime's complete denuclearisation," he said.

"It is time for all responsible nations to join forces, to isolate the North Korean menace," Trump said as he appreciated the UN Security Council voting twice to adopt hard-hitting resolutions against North Korea. Trump also praised China's latest action to restrict its trade with North Korea.

"This is something that people would have thought unthinkable even two months ago. I want to thank President Xi (Jinping)," he said.

North Korea has been working to develop nuclear-tipped missiles capable of hitting the US mainland, and conducted its sixth and largest nuclear test this month.

So far, economic measures have not deterred Pyongyang from a string of missile tests. Trump and the North Korean regime have exchanged fiery rhetoric in recent days, escalating tensions between the two nations.

Meanwhile, North Korea has threatened to shoot down US bombers flying near the Korean peninsula, but it would have difficulty matching its words with action given aging air defence systems mostly dating to the Cold War, military experts said.

In intensifying rhetoric between the United States and North Korea during the past week, President Donald Trump said the US would "destroy" the country if it threatened the US or its allies. Pyongyang's foreign minister Ri Yong Ho responded that Trump had "declared war" and North Korea reserved the right to take countermeasures, including shooting down US bombers, even if they were not in its air space.

In a show of force on Saturday, US Air Force B-1B Lancer bombers escorted by fighters flew east of North Korea, in what the

Pentagon said was the farthest north of the Korean Demilitarized Zone that any US fighter jet or bomber has flown in the 21st century.

The supersonic B-1B bombers have elaborate electronic countermeasures and are usually escorted by four F-15 fighters, which are likely to prevail in any air combat with North Korea's aging air force, said Bruce Bennett, a military expert at the Rand Corporation think tank.

North Korea could attempt to fire surface-to-air missiles at the US aircraft, but its systems would barely have the range to strike targets outside of North Korean airspace, missile experts said.