Chinese president pleads for peace as Trump warns the US is sending an 'armada' to North Korea and tells Kim Jong-un: 'You're doing the wrong thing!'

• Chinese leader Xi Jinping urged Trump to resolve North Korea crisis 'peacefully'
• Trump had earlier spoken with Fox News amid rising tensions with North Korea
• But the US President refused to reveal his plan was, saying: 'You never know'
• He said the U.S. is sending a powerful 'armada' to the Korean Peninsula
• North Korea said it was 'keenly watching' enemy elements, issued more threats and has threatened nuclear attacks against the U.S.

'We are sending an armada. Very powerful,' Trump told Fox News on Tuesday amid rising tensions with North Korea

Chinese president Xi Jinping has pleaded for peace after Donald Trump warned the US is sending a powerful 'armada' to North Korea.

The two leaders have spoken by phone in an apparent effort to avoid further escalation after Trump deployed the aircraft carrier-led strike group in a show of force to the Korean peninsula. 

The US president last night repeatedly accused Kim Jong-Un of doing 'the wrong thing'  as he talked up the power of the fleet heading towards the Korean peninsula. 

China has made clear its frustration with Pyongyang's stubbornness but Beijing's priority remains preventing any military flare-up that could bring chaos and instability to its doorstep.

In his phone call with Trump, Xi stressed that China 'advocates resolving the issue through peaceful means,' the foreign ministry said.

China is said to have moved 150,000 troops to its border to deal with a possible influx of North Korean refugees amid fears Trump may strike Kim Jong-un following the surprise US missile attack on Syria last week.

TENSE STAND-OFF: The U.S. dispatched a naval strike group to the area amid continued missile launches and hot rhetoric from North Korea

Chinese president Xi Jinping (right) has pleaded for peace after Donald Trump (left) warned the US is sending an 'armada' to North Korea

Asked in an interview with Fox News whether he considers Kim Jong-Un to be mentally fit, Trump said: 'I don't know. I don't know. I don't know him. But he's doing the wrong thing.'

He held back from interviewer Maria Bartiromo what his plans might be – as he stated the immense capabilities of the naval strike group that is en route. 

'We are sending an armada. Very powerful,' Trump said. 'We have submarines. Very powerful. Far more powerful than the aircraft carrier, that I can tell you. And we have the best military people on earth. And I will say this: He is doing the wrong thing.' 

Asked what his administration was doing right now on North Korea, Trump responded: 'You never know, do you? You never know.'

'That's all you're going to say?' Bartiromo asked. 'You know I don't talk about the military,' Trump responded. 

In the same interview, Trump also said Russian President Vladimir Putin is backing an 'evil person' in Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

'Frankly, Putin is backing a person that's truly an evil person," Trump told the Fox Business Network, referring to Assad. 'I think it's very bad for Russia. I think it's very bad for mankind.'

Of Assad, Trump added: 'This is an animal.' 

Trump is increasing pressure on Putin to abandon Assad, just as U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is visiting Moscow.

Tillerson is currently in Moscow, meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

President Trump spoke about the North Korea threat with Maria Bartiromo on Fox News

President Trump has ordered the U.S. Navy strike group Carl Vinson towards the Korean peninsula, in response to the country's continued missile tests  

Vladimir Putin on Wednesday warned that Russia-US relations have deteriorated since Donald Trump took office

Putin warns that Russia-US relations have deteriorated since Trump took office 

Vladimir Putin has warned that Russia-US relations have deteriorated since Donald Trump took office in the wake of America's missile strike in Syria. 

The Russian President addressed the 'level of trust' between Moscow and Washington in an interview transcript released by Kremlin officials.

'It can be said that the level of trust at the working level, especially at the military level, has not become better but most likely has degraded,' Putin said.

His statement came as Moscow delivered an unusually hostile reception to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in a face-off over Syria.

Just as Tillerson sat down for talks in Moscow, a senior Russian official attacked the 'primitiveness and loutishness' of U.S. rhetoric, part of a volley of statements that appeared timed to maximise the awkwardness during the first visit by a member of Trump's cabinet. 

Earlier, Trump tweeted that North Korea was 'looking for trouble' and the United States would 'solve the problem' with or without China's help.

He pressed Chinese president Xi Jinping during their summit Friday at Mar-a-Lago to help with North Korea's intransigence.

As a backdrop to their meeting, Trump authorized the launch of 59 cruise missiles at a Syrian airfield in response to the use of chemical weapons.

'If China decides to help, that would be great,' Trump tweeted Tuesday morning. 'If not, we will solve the problem without them!'

Tension mounted amid concern North Korea might conduct its sixth nuclear test.

In a show of force, the U.S. is diverting U.S. Navy strike group Carl Vinson from Australia toward the Korean peninsula. 

North Korea has continued to blast the U.S. in its pronouncements. 

Its ministry of foreign affairs called the deployment 'reckless acts of aggression' in a letter delivered to CNN in in Pyongyang: 'If the U.S. dares to choose a military option … the DPRK is willing and ready to react to any mode of war desired by the U.S.

'Our revolutionary strong army is keenly watching every move by enemy elements with our nuclear sight focused on the U.S. invasionary bases not only in South Korea and the Pacific operation theatre but also in the U.S. mainland,' said the country's official Rodong Sinmun newspaper.

The Chinese army has deployed 150,000 troops to the Yalu River Bridge at the North Korean border in anticipation of a wave of refugees from North Korea if war breaks out. Meanwhile, the US Navy has moved the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier strike group from Singapore to the North Korean peninsula

War games: Pyongyang condemned Washington's order to dispatch the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier and its battle group to the region for US-South Korea military exercises. A row of F18 fighter jets are pictured on the deck of the USS Carl Vinson

President Trump wrote on Twitter after revealing he had urged his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to pressure its neighbor and close ally in to stopping its nuclear program

North Korean state media has warned of a possible nuclear attack if the country becomes the target of American aggression. Above, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un pictured above on Tuesday, attending a meeting of the Supreme People's Assembly in Pyongyang 

'Our revolutionary strong army is keenly watching every move by enemy elements with our nuclear sight focused on the U.S. invasionary bases not only in South Korea and the Pacific operation theatre but also in the U.S. mainland,' the paper continued.

Pyongyang rattled a saber in Washington's direction on Monday, saying it would mount a defense against 'reckless acts of aggression' after the Trump administration sent an aircraft carrier strike group toward the Korean peninsula.

The strike group consists of the USS Carl Vinson, a missile carrier and two destroyers.

The state-run Korean Central News Agency said the North Korean foreign ministry criticized Trump's 'reckless acts of aggression' and said American aggression has 'reached a serious phase.'

Pyongyang 'is ready to react to any mode of war desired by the U.S.,' the ministry insisted.

(The Mail)