However, it appears that those fears aren't shared in North Korea, where a Sputnik correspondent arrived last week to observe the preparations and celebrations to honor the nation's most important national holiday.
Sputnik found residents of the capital Pyongyang going about their daily lives with little thought for the dire warnings of war coming from politicians.
It could be that North Koreans are fully aware of the standoff with the US and potential for nuclear war, but figure, "why worry?"
The only indications of the country's readiness to "wipe out the American imperialists from the face of the earth" are the posters hanging around the city which promise to do just that.
However, even this doesn't seem as scary in real life as it does from the television, our correspondent reports. The formidable North Korean commandos who marched around Kim Il-sung Square in camouflage headed home after half an hour.
Tensions between North Korea and the US have increased in recent months, after Washington changed decades of policy and expressed its willingness to start a military conflict with North Korea in response to its missile launches and nuclear tests.
On Monday, US Vice-President Mike Pence traveled to the demilitarized zone between the North and the South and warned Pyongyang that "the era of strategic patience is over."
In turn, Pyongyang has said it is ready to strike the US if the latter prepares to attack North Korea.
Last week, North Korea monitoring website 38 North reported that its Punggye-ri nuclear test site was "primed and ready" to carry out a sixth.
However, satellite images from April 16 appear to show workers at the site having a break and playing volleyball.
