Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un are like 'children in a kindergarten': Russia

Appealing for an end to the escalating rhetoric between Washington and Pyongyang, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has likened the war of words between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to a kindergarten fight between children.

"We have to calm down the hot heads and understand that we do need pauses, that we do need some contacts," Lavrov told a news conference after his address to the General Assembly.

Lavrov said Moscow was working with other countries "to strive for the reasonable and not the emotional approach -- instead of the kindergarten fight between children (where) no one can stop them."

Russia would welcome any attempt by a third country to mediate in the crisis, Lavrov told the news conference, adding that this could come from a "neutral" European nation.

On the fringes of the world meeting, North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho told reporters that Pyongyang might now consider detonating a hydrogen bomb outside its territory.

"I think that it could be an H-bomb test at an unprecedented level perhaps over the Pacific," he said - while adding: "It is up to our leader so I do not know well."

North Korea could test a powerful nuclear weapon over the Pacific Ocean in response to US President Donald Trump's threats of military action, the country's foreign minister has warned.

Ri Yong Ho spoke to reporters in New York shortly after Kim Jong Un accused President Donald Trump of being "mentally deranged" and a "dotard" after Trump threatened to "totally destroy" North Korea in a speech to the UN General Assembly on 19 September.

Trump responded with a tweet calling Kim Jong-un "a madman" who "will be tested like never before!"

-ANI