Updated September 22, 2017 13:21:17

Photo: Kim Jong-un has been in a war of words with the US (Reuters: KCNA)

North Korea's Foreign Minister says his regime may consider testing a hydrogen bomb in the Pacific Ocean, as Pyongyang and Washington continue to exchange military threats.

Ri Yong-ho is in New York to speak at the United Nations meeting tomorrow.

He was asked by reporters what his leader Kim Jong-un meant when he said he was considering the "highest level of countermeasure" in response to US President Donald Trump's threat to "totally destroy" North Korea.

"I will make the man holding the prerogative of the supreme command in the US pay dearly for his speech calling for totally destroying the DPRK," Mr Kim said, in a rare statement issued in his own name.

Mr Ri told reporters he had "no idea about what actions could be taken as it will be ordered by leader Kim Jong-un".

"In my view, I think it will probably carry out an H-bomb test in the Pacific," Mr Ri added.

Kim Jong-un may be wielding a weapon much more powerful than before, with concern North Korea is in possession of a hydrogen bomb.

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga condemned North Korea's "absolutely unacceptable" remarks and behaviour on Friday, adding that it is and provocative to regional and international security.

Japanese Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera said the comments by the North Korean Foreign Minister were utterly unacceptable.

In his statement, Mr Kim labelled also Mr Trump "deranged" and said he would "pay dearly" for his threats.

"I am now thinking hard about what response he could have expected when he allowed such eccentric words to trip off his tongue," he said.

"Whatever Trump might have expected, he will face results beyond his expectation."

Mr Trump had earlier announced a round of sanctions targeting Pyongyang, including its shipping and trade networks, ahead of a meeting with the leaders of Japan and South Korea.

"Today I'm announcing a new executive order, just signed, that significantly expands our authority to target individual companies, financial institutions, that finance and facilitate trade with North Korea," Mr Trump said.

He stopped short of going after North Korea's biggest trading partner, China, but praised Beijing's central bank for ordering Chinese banks to stop doing business with North Korea.

North Korea's textiles, fishing, information technology, and manufacturing industries are among those the US could target, Mr Trump said.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said banks doing business in North Korea would not be allowed to also operate in the US under the new sanctions order.

The war of words between North Korea and the US has been escalating as the hermit nation moves closer to perfecting a nuclear-tipped missile that could strike America.

Pyongyang has thus far resisted international pressure, conducting its sixth and largest nuclear test on September 3, and launching numerous missiles this year, including two intercontinental ballistic missiles and two other rockets that flew over Japan.

The UN Security Council has unanimously imposed nine rounds of sanctions on North Korea since 2006, the latest earlier this month capping fuel supplies to the isolated state.

Speaking in New York, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said Australia would continue to review its autonomous sanctions on North Korea.

South Korea's President Moon Jae-in said sanctions were needed to bring Pyongyang to the negotiating table and force it to give up its nuclear weapons, adding that Seoul was not seeking North Korea's collapse.

But in Geneva on Thursday, Mr Ri told a UN rights panel that continued sanctions would endanger the survival of North Korean children.

ABC/wires

Topics: unrest-conflict-and-war, world-politics, korea-democratic-peoples-republic-of, asia, united-states

First posted September 22, 2017 11:59:14