In what is possibly the closest we have come to nuclear war since the Cuban Missile Crisis, North Korea and the USA are starting to move beyond simple goading of one another, and edging towards legitimate threats of war. The two nations' leaders, Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un, have been playing a childish game of 'whose missile is bigger' for too long now, and it's beginning to get more than a little worrying. Last week, news emerged that Pyongyang had successfully tested a new ICBM - one that would be capable of causing catastrophic damage to the USA. In response to this, Trump told reporters, "I will only tell you that we will take care of it... It is a situation that we will handle." He later commented that the states would be prepared to retaliate against any threats with "fire and fury". Following that, America and South Korea joined forces to send a formation of military planes, including a US Air Force B-1B Lancer bomber, to fly over the Korean peninsula. According to the South Korean military: "Through the drill, the South Korean and US air forces displayed the allies' strong intent and ability to punish North Korea when threatened by nuclear weapons and missiles." Well, it seems that North Korea got the message, because now they have described "an outbreak of war... as an established fact." In a statement released by North Korea, an official directly referenced the flight exercise as potential provocation for a full-blown war:

"The large-scale nuclear war exercises conducted by the US in succession are creating a touch-and-go situation on the Korean peninsula and series of violent war remarks coming from the U.S. high-level politicians amid such circumstances have made an outbreak of war on the Korean peninsula an established fact. The remaining question now is: when will the war break out."

However, they did add:

"We do not wish for a war but shall not hide from it, and should the US miscalculate our patience and light the fuse for a nuclear war, we will surely make the U.S. dearly pay the consequences with our mighty nuclear force which we have consistently strengthened."

The President has yet to comment on the matter, and has not tweeted anything since announcing his controversial recognition of Jerusalem as the Israeli capital. No doubt he will have something to say about this reaction, though, as his previous spats with Kim have been made very public. Just last month, on Veteran's Day, he made his disdain for the North Korean leader very clear by calling him "short and fat" on social media. [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/929511061954297857]] With this latest threat, however, there is a looming possibility that this war of words could soon become one of real force. "If we have to go to war to stop this, we will. If there's a war with North Korea it will be because North Korea brought it on itself, and we're headed to a war if things don't change," said Republican Senator Lindsey Graham after the initial ICBM test. Any aggression from this point onward is likely to be taken as a further threat, and one can only hope that both leaders seriously consider the consequences before antagonizing each other.

If there is anybody that Donald Trump has publicly clashed heads with more than anyone else, it's Kim Jong Un. The North Korean leader seems to have a talent for goading the President into lashing out - something which was especially evident a couple of weeks ago, when Trump tweeted petty insults towards Kim in response to being described as "old". [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/929511061954297857]] However, after news emerged yesterday that Pyongyang successfully tested a new type of intercontinental ballistic missile that would be capable of reaching Washington DC, Trump has been forced to deal with the matter rather more seriously. Reports that the weapons test was a success was announced by North Korean propaganda, and the claims they made appear to be corroborated by statements from Japan and South Korea. "After watching the successful launch of the new type ICBM Hwasong-15," the report said, "Kim Jong-un declared with pride that now we have finally realized the great historic cause of completing the state nuclear force, the cause of building a rocket power." This news is obviously incredibly worrying coming from a nation that has long sought to become a nuclear superpower - especially since the relationship between the US and North Korea has been near enough pushed to breaking point already. When prompted for a statement on how he plans to deal with the situation, Trump told reporters at the White House: "I will only tell you that we will take care of it. ... It is a situation that we will handle." Later, Trump made yet more ominous claims on Twitter - apparently his favored platform for dealing with serious political matters - and hinted that the US should be preparing for war. [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/935686205429157888]] US Defense Secretary James Mattis, who was present with Trump in the Roosevelt Room, said that Pyongyang's latest missile launch was "higher, frankly, than any previous shot they have taken," and that it has the ability to hit "everywhere in the world, basically." David Wright, a member of the Union of Concerned Scientists, also expressed his concerns about the capabilities of the missile. "Such a missile would have more than enough range to reach Washington, DC, and in fact any part of the continental United States," Wright said in a statement. However, he did add that this range would be limited at least in part if a nuclear warhead was attached. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham had perhaps the most damning statement to make on the matter, and said on CNN that, "If we have to go to war to stop this, we will. If there's a war with North Korea it will be because North Korea brought it on itself, and we're headed to a war if things don't change." This followed a statement from a North Korean official, who said, "Before we can engage in diplomacy with the Trump administration, we want to send a clear message that the DPRK has a reliable defensive and offensive capability to counter any aggression from the United States." This is arguably the closest the world has been to seeing a nuclear attack since The Cold War, and obviously the situation deserves the utmost concern and attention. The President, however, already seems to have moved on from the issue, and was back to tweeting about tax cuts just two hours after saying, "it's more important than ever to fund our gov't & military". [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/935713791765110785]] Whatever he says, though, Trump should certainly be careful about what he tweets in the near future. Though his bickering with Kim may have seemed humorous in the past, it could have dire consequences towards international relations at this point.

Over the past few months, US President Donald Trump and North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un have the kind of on-again off-again relationship that makes Ross and Rachel's tumultuous Friends love affair look tame. One minute they're extending the hand of friendship, the next, they're slinging insults half way across the world and cancelling dates because of it.

So if you were having a hard time keeping up already, then the news that the much-anticipated summit between the US and North Korea might be back on after all is probably not going to help clarify things. After all, this is the same event that Trump said just last week it would be "inappropriate" to have and declared would not take place "for the good of both parties, but to the detriment of the world".

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Due to be held on June 12 in Singapore - a location chosen for its neutrality - the summit would be the first time a sitting US president and a North Korean leader have met face-to-face. It would be a symbolic step in the efforts to restore diplomacy between the nuclear state, it's neighbour South Korea, and South Korea's ally, the USA.

Despite the cancellation, in a statement released via North Korea's state news agency KCNA, North Korea said that Kim had "his fixed will" on the meeting with President Trump going ahead as planned.

The statement came after a surprise meeting held between Kim and the South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Saturday, following which Moon said that the two had "agreed that the 12 June summit should be held successfully". Moon also said that Kim had once again re-affirmed "his commitment to a complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula".

Earlier in the week, North Korea invited foreign journalists to watch as the country demolished its Punggye-ri nuclear test site, which had been the location for all of its previous nuclear tests.

For his part Trump has also appeared to backtrack from the official stance of his own Administration, telling reporters that plans to meet the North Korean leader are "moving along very nicely" and that the date of June 12 "hasn't changed".

He later stated on Twitter: "We are having very productive talks with North Korea about reinstating the Summit which, if it does happen, will likely remain in Singapore on the same date, June 12th., and, if necessary, will be extended beyond that date."

In another sign that the White House are preparing for the talks to go ahead after all, an official spokesman has also confirmed that a team will leave for Singapore this weekend, as previously scheduled. This, he said, was in order to put everything in place in case they do occur.

Whether or not Trump's decision to cancel the summit was in fact all one big bluff, the political equivalent of playing hard to get, is yet to be seen. Either way, it certainly appears to be working, so let's just keep our fingers crossed that something good can come of this.

In his time as president, Donald Trump has proven himself to be one of the most divisive leaders in living memory. As well as raising tensions amongst Americans, the former businessman has also threatened to start a trade war with Europe, and managed to anger pretty much every non-white nation when he made supposedly a comment about not wanting immigrants from "s***hole countries".

One of his most notorious (and dangerous) moves, however, was his decision to personally attack Kim Jong Un, the leader of North Korea.

In the past, Trump has described Kim Jong Un as "Little Rocket Man", and appeared to be flippantly joking about starting a global war when he made the statement that he has a "much bigger and more powerful" nuclear button than the North Korean dictator.

It might come as somewhat of a shock, then, that the two leaders have agreed to meet.

Just this weekend, Trump said in his speech at the Gridiron dinner: "I would not rule out direct talks with Kim Jong Un. I just won’t. As far as the risk of dealing with a madman is concerned, that’s his problem, not mine."

Just a matter of days later, South Korea's national security adviser, Chung Eui-yong, delivered an invitation to Trump to meet with his long-time foe.

"[President Trump] will accept the invitation to meet with Kim Jong Un at a place and time to be determined," said White House spokeswoman, Sarah Sanders.

According to her, Trump "greatly appreciates the nice words" of the delegation and South Korean President Moon Jae-in. "He will accept the invitation to meet with Kim Jong Un at a place and time to be determined. We look forward to the denuclearization of North Korea. In the meantime, all sanctions and maximum pressure must remain."

Trump himself has described the move as "great progress".

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President Moon of South Korea described the announcement as "historic", and seemed relieved that the two leaders were approaching a more diplomatic discussion of the issues that have driven them apart for so long.

"This is an almost miraculous event; my administration will prepare toward the May meeting with utmost diligence," he said via a spokesperson.

However, other nations weren't so quick to express their optimism. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe spoke with Trump over the phone in order to remind him of the importance of keeping a lid on the actions of North Korea. In a discussion with reporters, Abe said that he and Trump agreed to "keep putting maximum pressure until North Korea takes concrete actions toward denuclearization."

Julie Bishop, the Foreign Minister for Australia, said that her government welcomed "dialogue with North Korea", but she also reminded Trump that "North Korea has a history of making agreements and then failing to honor them."

This meeting will certainly be an unprecedented opportunity for the two leaders to settle their differences and hopefully cool off on the nuclear threats - we just have to hope that the pair of them can act in the best interests of their citizens.

So, as we all know, things aren't great with North Korea at the moment. Whether it's the petty insults, aggressive rhetoric, or launching of nuclear missiles, Kim Jong-un seems dead set on winding up the entire world with no clear end game in sight. In all seriousness, it's difficult to know what the North Korean leader is genuinely trying to achieve at the moment, as surely if it did come down to an all out war, the consequences are dire to consider. One country that the North seems intent on annoying more than America, is South Korea. Kim Jong-un has been pretty vocal of his disapproval surrounding the relationship between South Korea and America, particularly the fact that they are currently undergoing joint military training, something which they do every year. Unsurprisingly, Kim Jong-un sees this training as provocative and has responded as he always does, by doing something very strange. In the past, when the US and South Korea have teamed up for military training, the North has tested missiles and issued aggressive rhetoric in order to try and intimidate them. This time though, there were no weapons fired, or declarations of war, but the North have just broken a fairly longstanding agreement between them and their sister country. North Korea has opened the Hwanggang dam (a border dam) without any warning, causing water levels in the South the rise dangerously. It's not the first time that the country has done this, having done it in 2009, killing six people in the process. However, after that incident occurred, the two countries came to an understanding that North Korea would inform the South in advance if they're planning on opening the dam, but they seem to have gone against this agreement. A sudden opening of the reservoir can have a devastating effect on the surrounding areas. Opening the dam sends water rushing into the Imjon River, posing a major threat to those living in the low lying border areas. South Korea's military noticed the release on Monday, and it is being reported that North Korea still haven't been in touch about the reasons behind it. Water levels under the Pilseung Bridge rose to 5.97 meters as of 5pm on Monday, according to the Korean Herald. However, it is considered a crisis if water levels reach 7.5 meters, which hopefully won't happen anytime soon. Whether this was a purposeful move by North Korea to wind up their neighbours is a matter of pure speculation. One thing is certain though, this will only increase the tensions between the countries and the US, who will surely take the side of their southern allies. The rest of the world seems to be waiting with bated breath as to what the next move by the North is going to be, especially given the latest military drills by the US and the South, which have annoyed Kim Jong-un and North Korea, who have warned that it could cause an all out war.