US denies declaring war on North Korea

"We have not declared war on North Korea and, frankly, the suggestion of that is absurd," said White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders at her daily press conference.

She added that it is never appropriate for a country to fire on the aircraft of another country when they are over international waters.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon confirmed Monday that it is prepared to offer military "options" to the president if North Korea continues with its "provocative actions," a reference to the escalating tensions over the past few weeks between the two nations.

"If North Korea does not stop their provocative actions, you know, we will make sure that we provide options to the President to deal with North Korea," Pentagon spokesman Col. Robert Manning told reporters on Monday.

Military officials consulted by EFE confirmed that these options included military action, but they did not provide further details.

Earlier in the day, North Korea said it reserves the right to shoot down US warplanes flying outside its airspace.

"Since the United States declared war on our country, we will have every right to make countermeasures," Foreign Minister Ri told reporters at the door of a New York hotel.

Those measures, the North Korean minister said, include "the right to shoot down United States strategic bombers even when they are not inside the airspace border of our country."

The declaration was made by the Northeast Asian regime two days after the Pentagon announced that military aircraft had flown near North Korea's coast with the aim of sending a "clear message" to Pyongyang.

"The whole world should clearly remember it was the US who first declared war on our country," Ri said.

The foreign minister said that North Korea drew this conclusion from the speech US President Donald Trump delivered before the United Nations General Assembly last Tuesday.

In that address, Trump said that although the US has great strength and patience, if it is forced to defend itself and its allies "we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea."

Ri said Monday that those words were clearly a "declaration of war" against Pyongyang, and he noted that the UN Charter authorizes the international body's member states to defend themselves.

Tensions have been steadily rising since Trump's UN speech, which was delivered in the wake of North Korean missile and nuclear tests, and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un made a rare television appearance calling Trump "mentally deranged," whereupon Trump responded by once again mockingly calling Kim "Rocket man."