North Korea announces plans to conduct 'weekly' missile tests, warns of 'all out war'

North Korea has indicated that it plans to ramp up its missile-testing activities.

"We'll be conducting more missile tests on a weekly, monthly and yearly basis," North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Han Song-Ryol told the BBC on Monday.

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He also said that if the U.S. decided to react militarily, there would be "all out war."

His words were released the same day that Vice President Mike Pence issued his own warning during a stop in South Korea, notes the New York Times.

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"Just in the past two weeks, the world witnessed the strength and resolve of our new president in actions taken in Syria and Afghanistan," Pence said during his appearance on Monday.

"North Korea would do well not to test his resolve or the strength of the armed forces of the United States in this region," he added.

But beyond his tough talk, the vice president also left an opening for resolution through diplomacy, which he described as a solution "through peaceable means, through negotiations."

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There had been increased tension over speculation that North Korea might try to test a nuclear weapon on Saturday, which would have been founding father Kim Il-sung's 105th birthday, in what officials heralded as "a big and important event."

However, CNN reports based on inside military sources that even though the country tried to launch what may have been a medium-range missile on Sunday, that effort appears to have failed.