The U.S. Department of Energy has designated ally South Korea a "sensitive" country, a spokesperson said on Friday, after the South Korean president briefly imposed martial law and amid talk of Seoul potentially developing nuclear weapons.

South Korea's foreign minister told the country's legislature Wednesday that developing nuclear weapons is not off the table

The ruling People Power Party (PPP) on Saturday expressed "deep regrets" over the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) designation of South Korea as a "sensitive country," vowing to make an all-out response.

In a statement issued via state media on Monday, the North Korean Foreign Ministry called the Freedom Shield drills "a dangerous provocative act of leading the acute situation on the Korean peninsula, which may spark off a physical conflict between the two sides by means of an accidental single shot, to the extreme point."

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday he still has a good relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, with whom he held several summits during his first term, and referred to North Korea once again as a "nuclear power.

U.S. President Donald Trump reaffirmed his relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, referring to North Korea as a nuclear power. During an Oval Office meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte,