Countering North Korean threat is Trump's "top priority", envoy says

President Donald Trump's top priority is to protect the United States and its allies against the "growing threat" from North Korea, and America is ready to use "the full range of capabilities at our disposal," a U.S. envoy said on Tuesday.

Fears have grown over North Korea's development of missiles and nuclear weapons since Pyongyang launched intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) in July. Those fears worsened after Trump warned North Korea would face "fire and fury" if it threatened the United States.

Trump's remarks led North Korea to say it was considering plans to fire missiles towards the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam . Trump responded by tweeting that the U.S. military was "locked and loaded, should North Korea act unwisely".

A few days later, North Korean media reported the country's leader, Kim Jong Un, had delayed a decision on whether to fire any missiles towards Guam while he waited to see what the United States would do. Experts warned Pyongyang could still go ahead with the missile launches.

U.S. disarmament ambassador Robert Wood told the United Nations-sponsored Conference on Disarmament that the "path to dialogue still remains an option" for Pyongyang, but that Washington remained "undeterred in defending against the threat North Korea poses".

"North Korea's ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programmes pose grave threats to the entire world," Wood told the Geneva forum.

"Its recent ICBM tests are another example of the dangerous reckless behaviour of the North that is destabilising the region and beyond," he said.

North Korea had openly stated that its missiles are intended to strike cities in the United States and its allies South Korea and Japan, he said.

"My president's top priority remains protecting the homeland, U.S. territories and our allies against North Korean aggression," Wood said.

"We remain prepared to use the full range of capabilities at our disposal against the growing threat from North Korea," he told the forum.

There was no immediate reply from the North Korean disarmament delegation, whose counselor Ju Yong Chol was in the room. Its delegation is not on the speakers' list for Tuesday, although he could take the floor at the end of day's session.

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)