THE US and South Korea are set to carry out joint military drills next week resisting calls from the North and China to halt their exercises.

WASHINGTON will step up its military actions in Asia as tubby tyrant Kim Jong-un defies calls to surrender Pyongyang's nukes.

Fears over the Hermit Kingdoms nuclear programme have grown in recent weeks after the Norths supremo announced he was considering firing a barrage of missiles at Guam.

But Pyongyang appears to have cooled talks of an imminent strike on the US-owned Pacific island.

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Since 2008, photographer Eric Lafforgue ventured to North Korea six times. Thanks to digital memory cards, he was able to save photos that was forbidden to take inside the segregated state

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Taking pictures in the DMZ is easy, but if you come too close to the soldiers, they stop you

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It dialled back its rhetoric after US President Donald Trump vowed to use fire and fury against North Korea if it continued to develop nuclear missiles that could hit the American mainland.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Washington did, however, prefer a peaceful solution and offered an olive branch to the rogue regime.

He said: Our effort is to cause them to want to engage in talks but engage in talks with an understanding that these talks will lead to a different conclusion than talks of the past.

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Ever since the death of US student Otto Warmbier, the US has wanted to ban its citizens from travelling to the rogue nation. In spite of this, travel guide Shane Horan is still leading tours deep into the heart of the hermit state

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An army officer in frony of Mount Paektu on the Northern Chinese border. This is a sacred place for Koreans, and it is said that General Kim Jong Il was born at the base of the mountain

Our effort is to cause them to want to engage in talks

The Hermit Kingdom was quick to dismiss any suggestion it would give up its nuclear programme and said this week it would never be up for negotiation as long as the US governments hostile policy and nuclear threat continue.

In 2005, Pyongyang agreed to suspend its nuclear in return for much-needed energy assistance before the deal collapsed.

Chubby Kim has repeatedly threatened to use its nuclear weapons and Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM) to bomb targets in the US, South Korea and Japan.

The rogue communist state became more emboldened in July after it successfully launched two Hwasong-14 missiles that could strike targets in the American heartland, including Los Angeles and Chicago.

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US to stage massive drills on Kim's doorstep as WW3 fears grow - Daily Star