Any potential military conflict on the Korean Peninsula will have no winner, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said on Tuesday at a news briefing in Beijing.
North Korea's top diplomat Ri Yong Ho said yesterday that what he described as a "declaration of war" by Washington means that Pyongyang could resort to any measures in response.
"The whole world should clearly remember it was the US who first declared war on our country," North Korea's Foreign Minister told reporters in New York.
Also on Monday, the US Department of State's East Asia and Pacific Affairs Bureau spokesperson Katina Adams commented on the statement, saying that the US has not declared war on North Korea.
"We continue to seek a peaceful denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," Adams told Sputnik, adding that no country is allowed to fire on another nation's aircraft or ships if they are in international space or waters.
Meanwhile, recent reports suggest that North Korean is sending its military jets to the east of the country in the wake of a flyover by US bombers of the area last week.
Last Sunday, the US bombers flew in international airspace off the North Korean eastern coast. This military muscle-flexing was done in order to demonstrate the range of US military options available to Donald Trump, Chief Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said in a statement.
South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS), however said that no immediate retaliation was taken by Pyongyang in response to the flyover, suggesting that North Korea "might have failed to fully detect the [US] warplanes," South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported.
