U.S. actions in the coming days and weeks will decide if Washington and North Korea meet in a “nuclear-to-nuclear showdown” or at an upcoming summit, vice-minister of DPRK Foreign Affairs Choe Son Hui said on Thursday.

The statement was issued in response to an interview by U.S. Vice President Mike Pence with Fox News on Monday, the senior North Korean official explained.  

That interview saw the Vice President warn that North Korea may face regime change “if Kim Jong Un doesn’t make a deal,” and reiterate the necessity of the DPRK’s complete and verifiable and irreversible denuclearization