Donald Trump has been spotted playing golf at his vacation destination Wednesday while the nuclear crisis escalates with North Korea after his 'fire and fury' threat.

North Korea's state run news agency KCNA dismissed his warning as a 'load of nonsense' and said that only 'absolute force' can work on someone as 'bereft of reason' as Trump' as the country steams ahead with its plan to strike the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam by mid-August.

Pentagon chief James Mattis issued his own warning among the increasingly aggressive rhetoric, telling Kin Jong that he risks destroying his regime and his people if he attacks.

The magnitude of the nuclear crisis was underlined as one White House aide, Sebastian Gorka, compared it to the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Meanwhile, the president appeared to be unfazed by the escalating threat, as it was revealed to be on the course when his golfing companion, a New Jersey businessman, posted an Instagram picture saying their match had gone 'down to the 18th hole'.

Trump - who had tweeted that his 17-day stay at Bedminster, New Jersey, was not a vacation - did not have his game officially disclosed by the White House.

It is likely to fuel concerns over the response to the North Koreans' increasingly aggressive posture which in the space of 24 hours saw Trump and his Secretary of State Tillerson apparently at odds, and his Pentagon chief James Mattis revealed to have been initially out of the loop. 

Mattis weighed in with his own stern warning to North Korea on Wednesday afternoon - shortly before the Instagram image emerged - invoking the 'end' of its regime following President Trump's own admonition that Pyongyang's threats would bring 'fire and fury.'

• Trump was revealed to be golfing on Wednesday as the tense stand-off with North Korea escalated
• One adviser - aide Sebastian Gorka - compared it to the Cuban missile crisis but Trump was photographed on the course by a New Jersey businessman who said their game had gone to the 18th hole
• Defense Secretary James Mattis issued a statement referencing the potential 'end' to the DPRK regime 
• He touted 'the most precise, rehearsed and robust defensive and offensive capabilities on Earth' and said: 
• North Korea said it is 'carefully examining' a plan to strike Guam and it will be put in place once leader Kim Jong Un makes a decision
• North Korea's state run news agency dismissed Trump's 'fire and fury' warning as a 'load of nonsense' and said that only 'absolute force' can work on someone as 'bereft of reason' as Trump' 
• Threat came after Trump said that additional threats of violence against the U.S. 'will be met with the fire and the fury like the world has never seen'
• US officials believe Kim Jong-Un has built a miniaturized warhead for missiles and are ramping up their rhetoric in turn' Defense Intelligence officials say he now has 60 nuclear weapons in his arsenal