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North Korea has denounced the US deployment of a naval strike group to the region, warning it is ready for "war" as Washington tightens the screws on the nuclear-armed state.
The strike group, which includes the Nimitz-class aircraft supercarrier USS Carl Vinson, cancelled a planned trip to Australia this weekend to head to the Korean peninsula in a show of force.
"This goes to prove that the US reckless moves for invading the DPRK have reached a serious phase," a spokesman for North Korea's foreign ministry said. "The DPRK is ready to react to any mode of war desired by the US."
President Donald Trump, fresh from ordering a missile strike on Syria, which was widely interpreted as a warning to North Korea, has asked his advisers for a range of options to rein in Pyongyang, said a US official.
Mr Trump has previously threatened unilateral action against Pyongyang if China - North Korea's sole major ally - fails to help curb its neighbour's nuclear weapons ambitions.
But Pyongyang's response suggested the reclusive state is determined to continue on its current path despite repeated rounds of United Nations sanctions.
"We will take the toughest counteraction against the provocateurs in order to defend ourselves by powerful force of arms," the foreign ministry spokesman said.
"We will hold the US wholly accountable for the catastrophic consequences to be entailed by its outrageous actions."
Speculation over an imminent nuclear test is brewing as North Korea marks anniversaries including the 105th birthday of its late founding leader on Saturday - sometimes celebrated with a demonstration of military might.
South Korea's prime minister and acting president Hwang Kyo-Ahn told a cabinet meeting: "There is a possibility that the North launches more grave provocations such as another nuclear test to mark a number of anniversaries."
The current surge in tensions also coincides with today's scheduled gathering of North Korea's parliament, which meets once or twice a year to rubberstamp budgets or overhaul state organisations and personnel.
North Korea is on a quest to develop a long-range missile capable of hitting the US mainland with a nuclear warhead and has staged five nuclear tests, two of them last year.
Satellite imagery analysis suggests it could be preparing for a sixth, with intelligence officials warning it could be less than two years away from achieving the ability to strike the US.
South Korea's top nuclear envoy said on Monday after talks with his Chinese counterpart that the two nations had agreed to "strong" new measures to punish Pyongyang if it carried out another nuclear test.
The talks came shortly after Mr Trump hosted Chinese leader Xi Jinping for a summit at which he pressed Beijing to do more to curb North Korea's nuclear ambitions.
Click to view : Kim Jong-un in pictures
"We are prepared to chart our own course if this is something China is just unable to co-ordinate with us," US secretary of state Rex Tillerson said after the summit.
On Sunday, US national security adviser HR McMaster criticised North Korea as a rogue nation engaged in provocative behaviour and said that denuclearisation of the peninsula "must happen".
"The president has asked them to be prepared to give us a full range of options to remove that threat," he told Fox News, apparently referring to Trump's advisers.
South Korea's unification minister Hong Yong-Pyo said on Monday that the repercussions of a potential military response were worrying.
"Pre-emptive strikes may be aimed at resolving North Korea's nuclear problems but, for us, it is also related to defending the safety of the public," he said.
While a US unilateral strike on North Korea from a shorter range might be more effective, it would likely endanger many civilians in South Korea and risk triggering a broader military conflict, experts warn.
Click to view : North Korea's nuclear history: key moments
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