U.S. athletes may not attend Olympics as threat of nuclear war with North Korea rises, Haley warns

Nikki Haley says it’s an “open question” whether the U.S. will participate in the Winter Olympics.

“I think those are conversations we’re going to have to have. But what have we always said? We don’t ever fear anything. We live our lives," Haley, who serves as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, said in an interview with FOX News on Wednesday.

PyeongChang, in South Korea, is set to host the Winter Olympics in less than two months, but the city's location -- less than 50 miles from the border of North Korea -- has sparked some security fears, especially after the North Korean officials reported the successful launch of its largest and most powerful ballistic missile yet.

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Haley insisted that no final decision had been made, but noted that safety of American athletes would be a number one concern.

“What we will do is we’ll make sure that we’re taking every precaution possible to make sure that they’re safe, and to know everything that’s going on around them," she said in an interview with FOX News.

The comments came on the heels of North Korea warning that nuclear war had become inevitable -- a matter of when, not if -- thanks to U.S. rhetoric and joint drills with South Korea.

"The remaining question now is: when will the war break out?" a spokesman for the North's foreign ministry said late on Wednesday in a statement carried by North Korea's official KCNA news agency. "We do not wish for a war but shall not hide from it."

When asked if Haley would send family to the area if they were going to compete she hesitated.

“I think it depends on what’s going on at the time. We have to watch this closely and it’s changing by the day," she said.

Two American B-1B heavy bombers joined large-scale combat drills over South Korea on Thursday amid warnings from North Korea that the exercises and U.S. threats have made the outbreak of war "an established fact."