US President Donald Trump on Tuesday accused North Korea of torturing a captive US student "beyond belief," spurning pleas from allies and foes in east Asia to tone down his warlike rhetoric.
Trump urged nations to "isolate the North Korean menace" as his administration introduced new sanctions and warned that its "nuclear weapons and missile development threaten the entire word with unthinkable loss of life."
The comments, in the White House Rose Garden, came after the US Treasury announced sanctions on eight North Korean banks and 26 executives.
Earlier, for the first time, Trump also publicly accused Pyongyang of abusing the late 22-year-old Otto Warmbier, an allegation likely to heighten tensions between the two nuclear powers.
Last June the Ohio native was sent home in a coma after more than a year in prison in North Korea. He died a few days later.
Aides say Trump was personally shocked and angered by Warmbier's death, and that the government suspects mistreatment.
But the US president had stopped short of publicly accusing the regime of torture, a move that would raise expectations of a tough response, escalate tensions and could complicate any future releases.
Since June, the United States and North Korea have traded military moves and bombastic insults in a stand-off over Kim Jong-Un's nuclear and ballistic weapons programs.
After seeing Warmbier's parents on television Tuesday morning, Trump cast previous concerns aside.
"Otto was tortured beyond belief by North Korea," he said in an early morning tweet.
Firing missives
Alarm over Pyongyang's nuclear and ballistic missile programs dominated the gathering of world leaders at the United Nations, amid fears the heated rhetoric could accidentally trigger a war.
In his UN address last week, Trump delivered the blunt threat to "totally destroy" North Korea if provoked, deriding leader Kim Jong-Un as "Rocket Man".
Kim hit back with a personal attack of his own, branding Trump "mentally deranged" and a "dotard" and warning he would "pay dearly".
The North's Foreign Minister Ri Yong-Ho on Monday called a press conference to hit back at a US bomber mission near the North's coastline and a slew of bombastic warnings from the American president.
Taking umbrage at Trump's weekend tweet that North Korea's leadership "won't be around much longer" if it keeps up its threats, Ri told reporters the international community hoped that a "war of words" would "not turn into real actions."
"However, last weekend, Trump claimed our leadership would not be around much longer," said Ri, who attended this year's UN General Assembly session. "He declared a war on our country."