WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump and his French counterpart pledged in a phone call Saturday to work to denuclearize North Korea, but Trump again spoke of possible "military measures" if other steps fail.

A White House statement said Trump and President Emmanuel Macron had discussed "the increasingly dangerous situation associated with North Korea's destabilizing and escalatory behavior."

It said the United States was ready "along with its allies, to apply the full range of diplomatic, economic and military measures" to end any nuclear threat from the North.

The statement came just hours after Chinese leader Xi Jinping urged Trump in a separate phone call to avoid rhetoric that could inflame tensions with Pyongyang.

Trump raised alarm around the world -- and particularly in Asia -- by warning that North Korea would face "fire and fury like the world has never seen" if it were to keep threatening the United States.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un responded by threatening, if attacked, to strike targets in or around Guam in the western Pacific.

That prompted Trump to reassure citizens of the US territory that the American military was prepared to ensure their safety.

© Agence France-Presse