North Korea has since lashed out Australia, threatening a nuclear strike against the nation for "blindly and zealously toeing the United States line". While China has historically supported-above all-the stability of the Pyongyang regime as a means of avoiding a refugee crisis should the political system there collapse, now it is putting equal weight on regime stability and the denuclearization of that same regime. The paper is known for its often stridently nationalistic views. "All stakeholders will bear the consequences, with Pyongyang sure to suffer the greatest losses".

U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham said he and fellow Republican John McCain had dinner with Trump on Monday and discussed North Korea.

However, Beijing is intensely wary of any measures that might cause the collapse of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's hard-line communist regime, fearing that could lead to a wave of refugees and a Pyongyang government beholden to Washington and Seoul.

On Wednesday, North Korea's United Nations mission said it would react to "a total war" with the US with nuclear war.

"China has a very, very important role to play" to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear ambitions, Joseph Yun, the USA special representative for North Korea policy, told reporters in Tokyo. Graham told Fox News he was impressed by Trump's resolve.

Yun says China especially has "a very, very important role" to play. Tillerson is chairing a U.N. Security Council meeting Friday created to get nations to enforce existing penalties on North Korea and weigh new ones. He did not identify the countries. The statement said that Seoul and Washington have been pushing to get THAAD working soon to cope with North Korea's advancing nuclear and missile threats.

Moon, the favorite to win the race, has said the new South Korean administration should decide on whether to deploy the THAAD after gathering public opinions and having further discussions with Washington.

Mr Trump had said this month that the Carl Vinson was part of an "armada" of American Navy ships that would move closer to North Korea as a warning against provocative actions. "North Korea is not a Syria, it's not an Iraq".

North Korea's drills coincided with military exercises held by United States and South Korean navies in the Yellow Sea, off the western coast of the Korean Peninsula.

Trump was due to call Chinese President Xi Jinping after talking with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe earlier on Monday.

Anthony reports that the USS Michigan is "not expected to participate in any exercises".

In the meantime, the USS Michigan, a nuclear-powered submarine, arrived Tuesday at the South Korean port of Busan for what was described as a routine visit to rest crew and load supplies.

South Korea's military said Tuesday that North Korea held major live-fire drills in an area around its eastern coastal town of Wonsan as it marked the anniversary of the founding of its military. Reclusive North Korea said at the weekend it was ready to sink the USA aircraft carrier, which Trump had ordered to waters off the Korean peninsula as a warning to the North. Given the erratic behavior of Kim Jong-Un and his bellicose promises to strike the US with a nuclear missile, is it better to take him seriously and stop him now, or wait until he has the capability to carry out his threat?

Tensions on the Korean peninsula have soared in recent months as North Korea s missile tests have brought ever-more bellicose warnings from US President Donald Trump s administration.

"The reality of today again proves the decision to strengthen nuclear power in quality and quantity under the banner of pursuing economic development and nuclear power was the correct one", the unidentified spokesman said in a statement issued by the North's state media.

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters that the three envoys were to deepen cooperation and stay on the same page amid growing tension.

Pyongyang said later that it was practicing to hit US military bases in Japan. And in NY, the United Nations Security Council scheduled a special ministerial meeting Friday to discuss further sanctions on the regime in Pyongyang.

The North recently celebrated the 105th anniversary of the birth of North Korean founder Kim Il Sung. Then use that opening to negotiate, with the ultimate goal of getting the North Koreans to give up all their weapons.