Moon to meet top U.S

The announcement was followed today by both Koreas and the United States signaling their willingness to avert a deepening crisis, with each suggesting a path toward negotiations.

Last week, North Korea threatened to launch a salvo of four missiles that would splash down in waters within 25 miles of the US territory of Guam.

North Korea has said its military presented leader Kim Jong Un with plans to launch missiles into waters near Guam.

The missile plans were previously announced, and Kim said North Korea would conduct the launches if the "Yankees persist in their extremely risky reckless actions on the Korean Peninsula and its vicinity" and that the United States should "think reasonably and judge properly" to avoid shaming itself, the news agency said.

"The urgent task is to slam the breaks on the mutually provocative words and actions between North Korea and the United States", the Chinese statement said.

"What matters is that if a second conflict (on the peninsula) erupts, that can not help but lead to a nuclear war", the North's official Korean Central News Agency said in a commentary.

Top Chinese and United States military officials have agreed to boost military ties and exchanges amid growing tension between the two countries over North Korea.

"The US and South Korea can call the joint exercises defensive and regular as much as they want, but it's not defensive if you're sitting in Pyongyang".

South Korean President Moon Jae-in, meanwhile, a liberal who favors engagement with the North, urged North Korea to stop provocations and to commit to talks over its nuclear weapons program.

The general's visit comes as North Korea and the United States exchanged tirades against each other, which at one point led U.S. President Donald Trump to declare that his military was "locked and loaded" for military action should Pyongyang "act unwisely", heightening anxiety in the region over the prospect of conflict that could bring about dire consequences given highly concentrated firepower along the demilitarized zone on the peninsula dividing the two Koreas.

Financial markets regard tensions between Pyongyang and Washington as more serious than in the past, South Korea's finance minister said. "We will neither pursue reunification by absorbing the North nor in an artificial way", he said, adding that any integration needs to be carried out "in a peaceful and democratic manner to which each and every Korean agrees".

Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is visiting South Korea, Japan and China after a week in which Trump declared the US military "locked and loaded" and said he was ready to unleash "fire and fury" if North Korea continued to threaten the United States.

Officials in China, South Korea, Japan and Russian Federation - the countries most directly at risk if a major war breaks out with North Korea - all appealed for calm and a return to diplomacy.

Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is visiting South Korea, Japan and China.

On the possibility of the North's further provocation, Cheong remarked Kim Jong-un would likely conduct its sixth underground nuclear test or another intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test around September 9, the day on which North Korea celebrates the anniversary of its founding in 1948.

The escalation also followed a report that US intelligence indicates North Korea can now put a nuclear warhead on its long-range missiles.

He also indirectly urged the US - the South's key ally and security guarantor - to resolve the crisis peacefully.

China repeated its calls Tuesday for the USA and South Korea to suspend the military exercises as a show of good faith to give diplomatic breathing room to restart the multilateral talks with North Korea that collapsed in 2008.

The military drills are set to begin on August 21.

Moon separately called Monday for a peaceful solution to the nuclear standoff, saying that "there must not be another war on the Korean Peninsula", according to his office.

Tenorio said "we're happy that he has taken a look at their plans" and appears to be holding off on a launch.