WASHINGTON -- The United States' ability to defend itself is "unquestionable" in the face of North Korea's renewed threat to test a nuclear weapon over the Pacific Ocean, the State Department said Wednesday.

In a CNN interview aired earlier in the day, a senior North Korean official said last month's threat by his country's foreign minister should be taken "literally."

"We have been clear that the United States has the unquestionable ability to defend itself, and its allies," Grace Choi, a spokesperson for the department's East Asian and Pacific Affairs Bureau, told Yonhap News Agency. "North Korea, through both its words and actions, threatens and undermines international peace and security."

The threat came last month when US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un engaged in a war of words over Pyongyang's nuclear and ballistic missile tests.

Speaking in New York during the UN General Assembly, North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho warned of a powerful hydrogen bomb test over the Pacific.

"The foreign minister is very well aware of the intentions of our supreme leader," Ri Yong-pil, deputy chief of the North Korean Foreign Ministry's Institute for American Studies, told CNN in Pyongyang. "So I think you should take his words literally."

 The official added that North Korea "has always brought its words into action."

Tensions have run high as the regime has pursued a nuclear-tipped missile capable of striking the mainland US In July, it tested two intercontinental ballistic missiles, while in September, it conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear test.

Trump has threatened to "totally destroy" North Korea if necessary.

"The US is talking about a military option and even practicing military moves," Ri Yong-pil said. "They're pressuring us on all fronts with sanctions. If you think this will lead to diplomacy, you're deeply mistaken."

The standoff is expected to come into further focus as Trump travels to South Korea, China and Japan in early November on his first official trip to Asia.

The US wants North Korea to understand that there is a "different path it can choose," Choi said.

"However, it is up to North Korea to change course and return to credible negotiations," she said. "As we and others have made clear, we will never accept a nuclear-armed North Korea nor abandon our commitment to our allies and partners in the region." (Yonhap)