NORTH Korea has blamed Donald Trump for building up a vicious cycle of tensions on the Korean peninsula with “aggressive” tweets that were “making trouble” – and warned it is prepared for war and ready to use its “powerful nuclear deterrent”.

The warning came from vice foreign minister Han Song Ryol, who cautioned that the US should not provoke North Korea militarily, saying: “We will go to war if they choose. If the US comes with reckless military manoeuvres then we will confront it with the DPRK’s pre-emptive strike,” referring to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

“We’ve got a powerful nuclear deterrent already in our hands, and we certainly will not keep our arms crossed in the face of a US pre-emptive strike.”

Speaking through a foreign ministry interpreter, Han was calm and polite, but forceful throughout a 40-minute interview. Tensions are deepening as the US has sent an aircraft carrier to waters off the peninsula and is conducting its biggest-ever joint military exercises with South Korea.

Pyongyang, meanwhile, recently launched a ballistic missile and some experts say it could conduct another nuclear test at virtually any time.

“That is something that our headquarters decides,” Han said of what would be North Korea’s sixth nuclear test. “At a time and at a place where the headquarters deems necessary, it will take place.”

Han said North Korea blames Trump and the US for rising tensions, citing the US-South Korean wargames, deployment of aircraft carrier, the USS Carl Vinson and a tweet Trump posted on Tuesday, in which he said the North is “looking for trouble”.

He also tweeted that if China does not do its part to rein in Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions, the US can handle it.

“Trump is always making provocations with his aggressive words,” Han said. “So that’s why. It’s not the DPRK but the US and Trump that makes trouble. As long as the nuclear threats and blackmail go on with the military exercises, we will carry forward with our national defence build-up, the core of which is the nuclear arms build-up. Whatever comes from the US, we will cope with it. We are fully prepared to handle it.”

South Korea’s foreign ministry criticised Han’s remarks saying they reveal the “true colours of North Korea’s government that is bellicose and a breaker of regulations”.

Outwardly, there are few signs of concern in North Korea despite rising tensions. Instead, it is gearing up for its biggest holiday of the year, today’s 105th anniversary of the birth of the late Kim Il Sung, the country’s founder and leader Kim Jong Un’s grandfather.