International reaction to North Korean nuclear test
Here is an excerpt from the article by my colleague Justin McCurry, which rounds up the latest developments on the Korean peninsula.
South Korea has carried out a simulated attack on North Korea’s nuclear test site in a huge show of force in response to Pyongyang’s detonation of what it claims is a hydrogen bomb.
Seoul has also approved the complete deployment of a US anti-missile system in another sign that it intends to address North Korean provocations with reminders of its own military firepower, while keeping the door open to dialogue.
South Korean intelligence officials said there were indications that the North was preparing to test fire another ballistic missile, though they did not say when they believed the launches would take place.
The army and air force drills, held at an undisclosed location on Monday morning, involved launching ballistic missiles in a simulated strike against North Korea’s Punggye-ri nuclear test site – the scene of Sunday’s controlled detonation of what Pyongyang claimed was a powerful hydrogen bomb capable of being loaded on to an intercontinental ballistic missile.
We’re going to pause our live coverage now, so I recommend you read that article in full:
Updated
China’s foreign ministry has rejected Donald Trump’s tweeted threat to stop trading “with any country doing business with North Korea” as unfair and unacceptable.
Asked about Trump’s threat, the foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang, told reporters:
We cannot accept a situation in which, on the one hand we work to resolve this issue peacefully, but on the other China’s own interests are subjected to sanctions and are damaged. This is neither objective, nor is it fair.
Asked about the timing of Sunday’s test - which came just hours before the start of the Brics summit in China - Geng said:
Whenever North Korea conducts a nuclear test, it goes against the will of the international community and China will strongly oppose it.
Asked about the risk of radioactive material being carried over the border into China, Geng said:
The Chinese government attaches high importance to protecting the safety of Chinese citizens and the environment in the [border] region... China will take relevant measures to safeguard Chinese citizens and the environment.
And, when asked about military cooperation between the US and South Korea, Geng replied:
We hope all the involved parties are able to maintain their restraint and keep calm and can make joint efforts to return to the track of peace talks. We hope the relevant parties will work with China towards the same end.
According to Xinhua, China’s official news agency, this is the statement put out by Brics leaders about North Korea this afternoon in China, where the emerging nations’ annual summit is being held:
We express deep concern over the ongoing tension and prolonged nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula and emphasise that it should only be settled through peaceful means and direct dialogue of all the parties concerned.
The Brics countries are Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
Updated
Some more from the Russian deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, who has been trying to ease tensions over North Korea’s nuclear tests. Speaking to reporters at a summit of the emerging nations, referred to as Brics, he said:
Those who are stronger and smarter should show restraint. Any clumsy step could lead to an explosion.
Updated
International reaction to North Korea’s nuclear test has not been uniform. While the US has talked up a military response, other world powers have emphasised different approaches.
Russia has offered perhaps the most direct opposition to Washington’s stance, with the country’s deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, saying Moscow believes the only way forward is by political and diplomatic means.
He sought to tone down the rhetoric, saying the situation in North Korea was not a real nuclear threat to Russia.
According to Reuters, he joined China in expressing opposition to the deployment of the US’s Thaad missile defence system in South Korea. Beijing believes it threatens its national security.
Russia would respond to such a military buildup on its borders, Ryabkov said, adding that all options were on the table and talks between Moscow and Washington were needed.
He made clear that he condemned the North Korean tests and stressed the importance of dialogue with the country. He criticised the US’s willingness to issue sanctions, though he indicated that Russia could yet make a decision to impose the same.
China’s foreign ministry said it had lodged “solemn representations” with the North Korean embassy in Beijing.
According to Agence France-Presse, the ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said:
China opposes the DPRK in carrying out nuclear missile development and we are committed to denuclearisation of the peninsula. This position is well-known and the DPRK also knows this position perfectly well.
China upheld talks with North Korea, to which Geng Shuang referred by its acronym, as the means to resolve the issue, it was said.
Updated
The South Korean government has released more details about its decision to complete the deployment of a US missile defence system designed to intercept incoming North Korean missiles.
The last four of six terminal high-altitude area defence (Thaad) batteries will become fully operational after the environment ministry on Monday gave its consent to their installation in Seongju, a village in central South Korea where two batteries are already in operation.
A defence ministry survey of the site concluded that Thaad’s impact on the surrounding environment and community would be minimal, saying that electromagnetic radiation from the system’s powerful X-band radar and noise pollution would remain below safety levels set by the government. Villagers had protested against Thaad’s initial deployment in April, claiming it would damage their crops and health.
The additional deployment, which will reportedly begin later this week, will not be without conditions, however. The ministry requires regular radiation assessments that must be observed by residents, and for the result to be made public, according to the Yonhap news agency.
South Korea and the US agreed in 2016 to install the missile defence system to counter the growing threat from North Korean missiles.
China has angrily denounced Thaad as a threat to its own national security, while residents of Seongju say the missile batteries, installed on a golf course, have turned their village into a North Korean target.
Updated
South Korea will temporarily deploy four remaining launchers for a missile defence system after the completion of an environmental assessment by the government, the country’s defence ministry said on Monday.
Some construction would be carried out to deploy the launchers for the terminal high-altitude area defence (Thaad) system at a site in Seongju, south of Seoul, according to Reuters.
There are currently two launchers at the location, which is a former golf course. The defence ministry did not specify when the launchers would be moved there.
The deployment decision was reportedly made by the South Korean president, Moon Jae-in.
China strongly objects to the use of the missile defence system, saying its powerful radar can penetrate deep into its territory, undermining its security.
Updated
The South Korean defence minister, Song Young-moo, has said the country’s president and government officials are in agreement that their response to North Korea’s recent tests should be to strengthen the South Korean military, rather than to hold talks, according to the Reuters news agency.
South Korea expects more missile launches from North
South Korea’s defence ministry is still seeing signs that North Korea plans to stage more ballistic missile launches, possibly including an intercontinental ballistic missile, it said in a parliament hearing on Monday.
Chang Kyung-soo, a defence ministry official, said:
We have continued to see signs of possibly more ballistic missile launches. We also forecast North Korea could fire an intercontinental ballistic missile.
The defence ministry was called by parliament on Monday to answer questions about North Korea’s sixth and largest nuclear test, which was carried out a day earlier.
The Yonhap news agency reports that Seoul’s defence ministry also measures North Korea’s nuclear test at 50 kilotons. The detonation on Sunday was the strongest ever from the North, which claimed the test was of a hydrogen bomb.
Updated
We are going to put this blog on hold for now. Please see our latest wrap of recent developments here and you can look at all of our coverage of the North Korea situation here.
Summary
- South Korea’s military has conducted a show of force, simulating an attack on Kim Jong-un’s nuclear test site, Punggye-ri, a day after the regime held its sixth and largest nuclear test. It involved live-fire exercises using its Hyunmoo ballistic missiles, F-15K fighter jets and troops on the ground at undisclosed locations on its east coast. It plans more exercises jointly with the US.
- Seoul is poised to approve further deployments of a controversial US missile defence system. China has said the Thaad system is a threat to its own national security. Many in the South are calling for the country to develop its own nuclear deterrent independent of the US.
- The United Nations security council is set to hold an emergency meeting on Monday morning. Nations around the world condemned the test.
- Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, has pledged to do his utmost to increase the country’s missile defences. He spoke after he and South Korea’s president, Moon Jae-in, held a 20-minute talk on the phone and agreed to pursue stronger UN sanctions to draw North Korea to the negotiating table.
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The White House responded to North Korea’s nuclear test with a sharp warning by defense secretary James Mattis that “any threat” against any US territory “or our allies will be met with a massive military response.”
- China’s president, Xi Jinping, did not mention the crisis at the Brics summit today, and Chinese media joined him in downplaying tensions. The Communist party’s official mouthpiece, the People’s Daily, carried just one line on its front page. China is furious, but has few options, experts say.
- Asked whether the United States would attack North Korea, Donald Trump said, “we’ll see.” Video here. Trump earlier turned on South Korea, tweeting: “South Korea is finding, as I have told them, that their talk of appeasement with North Korea will not work, they only understand one thing!”
- The test reflects the failure of Trump’s bellicose rhetoric on North Korea, the Guardian’s Julian Borger writes.
- Trump earlier spoke to Shinzo Abe and “confirmed the two countries’ ironclad mutual defence commitments,” the White House said.
- Theresa May condemned the test as “reckless”, saying it is more pressing than ever to look at increasing the pace of implementing sanctions on the regime.
- North Korea’s claim that it had tested a hydrogen bomb was not implausible. The test caused an earthquake of magnitude 6.3. Read about the test.
If you’re just starting your day now, here is a wrap of the main developments out of South Korea from our Tokyo correspondent, Justin McCurry. I will also post a summary of the wider situation shortly.
Experts and commentators in South Korea have been calling for Seoul to gain its own nuclear deterrent independent of the US, our Hong Kong correspondent, Benjamin Haas, writes.
South Korea hosts about 30,000 US troops and falls under the US nuclear umbrella, but in return is banned from building its own nuclear weapons under an agreement struck in 1974.
“As nuclear weapons are being churned out above our heads, we can’t always rely on the US nuclear umbrella and extended deterrence,” the Dong-a Ilbo, South Korea’s second-largest newspaper, said in an editorial.
The US stationed atomic weapons in the South after the 1950-53 Korean War, but withdrew them in 1991 when North and South Korea jointly declared they would make the peninsula nuclear-free.
The editorial said that agreement no longer applied. “There is no reason for us to cling onto the declaration when it has come to mean the denuclearisation of South Korea, not the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula,” it said.
Updated
Here is the full read from our Beijing correspondent, Tom Phillips, on the cards Xi Jinping could play to bring North Korea into line.
At the Brics summit in Xiamen, south-east China, state media cut off its transmission of world leaders after Xi Jinping had spoken but Brazil’s president, Michel Temer, did get to speak about North Korea on Twitter:
He said: “Another question that concerns us are the recent North Korean tests. Brazil reaffirms its commitment to the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.”
Outra questão que nos preocupa são os recentes testes norte-coreanos. O Brasil reitera compromisso c/ a não proliferação de armas nucleares.
— Michel Temer (@MichelTemer) September 4, 2017
Kim Jong-un’s latest provocation – which some believe was deliberately timed to upstage the start of the annual Brics summit in China – exposes not only the scale of the North Korean challenge now facing Chinese president Xi Jinping but also the dearth of options.
“The Chinese are pissed off, quite frankly,” says Steve Tsang, the head of the Soas China Institute. “But there is nothing much they will actually do about it. Words? UN statements and all that? Yes. But what can the Chinese actually do?”
One option is to further tighten sanctions on Kim’s regime by targeting its exports of textiles and clothing, says Zhao Tong from the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy in Beijing. Xi could also deprive Kim of another key source of revenue by agreeing to limit or completely prohibit up to 100,000 North Korean labourers from working overseas, including in China.
A third and far more drastic option also exists: cutting off North Korea’s crude oil supply. Zhao doubts Xi will choose that path. He believes turning off the taps could prove an irreversible decision since the pipeline delivering oil to North Korea is old and would corrode and break if left unused.
Crucially, though, it would cripple North Korea’s economy, almost certainly bring down Kim’s regime and create a massive refugee and security crisis just a few hundred miles from Beijing.
The Nikkei is now off nearly 1% as the market takes fright at the higher yen. The rise in the currency makes Japanese goods more expensive abroad, hurting the big electronics and car exporters listed on the stock market.
However, the reaction of the markets is reasonably calm given the rapid escalation in tensions over recent weeks.
One explanation came from Rob Carnell, head of Asian research for ING, who even saw an upside for investors. “Like a bad horror movie, the North Korea saga intersperses moments of calm, with occasional action to jolt you out of your chair.
“But we have been here now many, many times. Unless this is the precursor to US military action, which we doubt, then in a little over a day or two, tensions will calm again, making this a good buying opportunity for investors with a strong enough nerve.”
Xi Jinping has finished speaking at the opening of the Brics summit proper and made no mention of North Korea’s nuclear test and the ensuing turmoil.
Our Beijing correspondent, Tom Phillips, wrote earlier that Xi had hoped to further boost his image as an international statesman by hosting this week’s Brics summit, an event that has now been upstaged by Kim Jong-un.
China’s front pages on Monday joined the president in downplaying the tensions, seeking instead to focus on the issues facing a summit. The Communist party’s official mouthpiece, the People’s Daily, carried just one line about the crisis, beneath a photograph of Xi welcoming Russian president Vladimir Putin.
More detail from Justin McCurry on Shinzo Abe’s phone call with Moon Jae-in.
Abe told Moon that Sunday’s nuclear test was “a head-on challenge to the international community”, Kyodo news agency quoted the Japanese deputy chief cabinet secretary, Yasutoshi Nishimura, as saying.
Abe said the international community should bring the “strongest possible pressure” to bear on Pyongyang, including additional sanctions, and that Japan would urge China and Russia to do more.
In turn, Moon said South Korea would work with the security council, and vowed to maintain a strong bilateral security alliance with the US. His comments came after Donald Trump chastised South Korea for pursuing “appeasement” towards the North, although Moon has consistently supported the use of military and economic pressure, while leaving the door open to talks.
Abe’s pledge to improve its defences is in keeping with its plans specifically to acquire more PAC-3 Patriot missile batteries. It rolled some examples out this month in Tokyo for a planned drill. Last year Reuters reported Japan was seeking to upgrade its defences in time for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games in case of North Korean aggression.
Japan to increase missile defences
Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, has told a coalition party room meeting that the country would do its utmost to increase its missile defence capabilities and, alongside the US, defend itself against North Korean aggression.
He spoke after he and South Korea’s president, Moon Jae-in, held a 20-minute talk on the phone and agreed to pursue stronger UN sanctions to draw North Korea to the negotiating table.
Presidential Blue House spokesman Park Su-hyun told a media briefing: “Both heads of state agreed to cooperate closely with each other and the United States and shared the understanding there must be the most powerful sanctions and pressure applied on North Korea.”
South Korea’s military has released more images it says are from its earlier live-fire exercise. The operation focused on simulated targets in the East Sea and the military said the sites were chosen with the North’s Punggye-ri nuclear test site in mind.
South Korea’s media has called on Seoul to consider developing an independent nuclear deterrent, as concern grows over the strength of Washington’s commitment to its east Asian ally’s security following North Korea’s sixth nuclear test on Sunday.
The South hosts 28,500 US troops and falls under the US nuclear umbrella, but in return is banned from building its own nuclear weapons under a 1974 agreement with the US.
North Korean missile launches and yesterday’s test of what it claimed was a powerful hydrogen bomb have triggered calls by conservative politicians for the South to develop a nuclear deterrent independent of the US. Support for the move is also rising among South Korean voters.
“As nuclear weapons are being churned out above our heads, we can’t always rely on the US nuclear umbrella and extended deterrence,” the mass-circulation Dong-a Ilbo newspaper said in an editorial on Monday.
The US stationed atomic weapons in the South after the 1950-53 Korean War, but withdrew them in 1991 when North and South Korea jointly declared they would make the peninsula nuclear-free.
The editorial said that agreement no longer applied. “There is no reason for us to cling onto the declaration when it has come to mean the denuclearisation of South Korea, not the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula,” it said.
Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean president Moon Jae-in have held telephone talks in which they have agreed greater pressure is needed on North Korea, including stronger United Nations resolutions.
An emergency meeting of the security council has been called for 10am, according to US ambassador Nikki Haley.
South Korea has said it is preparing to conduct fresh military drills alongside US forces. This is in addition to the ballistic missile tests and fighter jet drills it has already conducted today. We will publish more details on this when we have them.
Summary
- South Korea is poised to approve further deployments of a controversial US missile defence system, a day after North Korea claimed it had successfully tested a powerful hydrogen bomb capable of being loaded on to a long-range missile.
- South Korea’s president, Moon Jae-in, had initially opposed the Thaad (terminal high-altitude area defense) system but appears to have softened his stance in light of North Korea’s tests. Seoul’s military also conducted live-fire exercises involving its Hyunmoo ballistic missiles and F-15K fighter jets. China says the Thaad system is a threat to its own national security.
- The United Nations security council has called a meeting for Monday. Nations around the world condemned the test.
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The White House responded to North Korea’s nuclear test with a sharp warning by defense secretary James Mattis that “any threat” against any US territory “or our allies will be met with a massive military response.”
- Chinese media have downplayed the North Korea tensions, with the Communist party’s official mouthpiece, the People’s Daily, carrying just one line on its front page about the crisis, beneath a photograph of Xi welcoming Russian president Vladimir Putin to China for the Brics summit.
- Asked whether the United States would attack North Korea, Donald Trump said, “we’ll see.” Video here.
- Trump turned on ally South Korea, tweeting: “South Korea is finding, as I have told them, that their talk of appeasement with North Korea will not work, they only understand one thing!”
- The test reflects the failure of Trump’s bellicose rhetoric on North Korea, the Guardian’s Julian Borger writes.
- Welcoming Bric-member nations to a summit, Chinese president Xi Jinping did not mention North Korea but said “incessant conflicts in some parts of the world and hotspot issues are posing challenges to world peace”.
- Trump spoke with Japanese premier Shinzo Abe and “confirmed the two countries’ ironclad mutual defense commitments,” the White House said.
- Theresa May condemned the test as “reckless”, saying it is more pressing than ever to look at increasing the pace of implementing sanctions on the regime.
- North Korea’s claim that it had tested a hydrogen bomb was not implausible. The test caused an earthquake of magnitude 6.3. Read about the test.
Japan’s foreign minister, Taro Kono, and the US secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, will push for fresh sanctions against North Korea when the UN security council meets later on Monday to discuss its response to Sunday’s nuclear test.
In a phone call on Monday morning Japan time, Kono and Tillerson agreed the international community should intensify pressure on Pyongyang, according to Kyodo news.
Options under consideration by US and Japanese officials include restricting the flow of oil into North Korea – a contentious measure that would have serious and immediate repercussions for the North Korean economy, given its dependence on energy imports.
China, which along with Russia is a major supplier of oil to North Korea, is cautious about strangling the state’s energy supply, fearing a domestic implosion could lead to a huge influx of refugees and the presence of US and South Korean troops along its border.
Now that there are convincing signs Pyongyang has reached the stage where it can miniaturise a thermonuclear warhead, it is likely to be too late for a credible military option, write our world affairs editor, Julian Borger, and Tokyo correspondent, Justin McCurry. Any attempt at a preventative attack on North Korea would probably trigger a cataclysmic response against US allies, US bases and possibly the US homeland itself.
“The military options are all bad,” Michael Hayden, the former director of the NSA and CIA, told CNN. “They’re not zero. We have got them – but none of them are good.”
He added: “This may be the time now to really hammer home that we are deadly serious on your performance, China, on sanctions.”
Abraham Denmark, a former US deputy assistant secretary of defence for east Asia, said: “This may be a moment of clarity for China. Supporting stronger sanctions, even cutting off oil and labor, is a real possibility.
“China will see a sixth nuke test just before their Party Congress, and despite Chinese warnings, as a slap in the face to Beijing.”
You can read the full analysis here:
Here is a video of the full statement made by US defence secretary James Mattis earlier outside the White House. In it he says America’s commitment to its allies is “ironclad” and that any threat “will be met with a massive military response, both effective and overwhelming”.
South Korea’s military has released images of its live-fire exercises, held at undisclosed locations on Monday in response to the North’s nuclear test. It involved Hyunmoo ballistic missiles and F-15K fighter jets as well as troop movements on the ground.
The exercises, along with the conditional approval for a US missile defence system, appear to be further evidence of President Moon Jae-in’s departure from the route of diplomacy.
One of the Thaad missile defence batteries that was deployed on a golf course in the South Korean county of Seongju in April this year.
South Korea to approve missile defence system
South Korea is poised to give its consent to further deployments of a controversial US missile defence system, a day after North Korea claimed it had successfully tested a powerful hydrogen bomb capable of being loaded on to a long-range missile.
The first two terminal high-altitude area defense (Thaad) anti-missile batteries went operational, amid widespread opposition, in the central village of Seongju in late April, but the deployment of a further four batteries was suspended pending the outcome of an environmental impact assessment.
On Monday morning, Yonhap news agency said the environment ministry had given its “conditional consent” to the installation of additional Thaad batteries, but gave no further details.
South Korea’s president, Moon Jae-in, had initially opposed Thaad’s introduction, which had been agreed to by his conservative predecessor, Park Geun-hye. But he appears to have softened his stance in light of North Korean ballistic missile and nuclear tests, and a dramatic rise in tensions on the peninsula since he took office in May.
The new launchers will also be deployed in Seongju, about 300km south of Seoul. Each Thaad battery comprises six launchers and a radar system. China has angrily opposed Thaad deployments, saying the system’s powerful radar could be used to spy on its own missile programme and so represents a threat to its national security.
Updated
South Korea’s finance minister said on Monday he would take “decisive and immediate market-stabilising measures” to protect against economic turmoil in the wake of the North’s nuclear test, news agency Yonhap has reported.
Kim Dong-yeon met the Bank of Korea’s governor, Lee Ju-yeol, and the chairman of the Financial Services Commission, Choi Jong-ku. Afterwards, he said: “The North Korean issue is spreading across the world. It may not only have a short-term impact on the financial and foreign exchange markets, but on the real economy as a whole.”
“If we detect anything wrong, such as market turbulence, we will take decisive and immediate market-stabilising measures in accordance with our contingency plan,” he added.
The benchmark Kospi (Korea composite stock price index) started 40.8 points, or 1.73%, lower at 2,316.89 points at 9am, with the Korean won losing ground at 1,129 won against the US dollar.
Investors have turned to safe havens such as the yen and gold this morning when the financial markets opened for the first time since news of North Korea’s nuclear test.
The Japanese currency jumped to ¥109.875 to the US dollar as investors bet on Japan – the world’s largest creditor nation – calling in funds in time of crisis and pushing up the yen.
The yen’s rise was bad news for Japanese stocks, however, and the Nikkei dropped 0.6% in early trade. The ASX200 in Sydney was down 0.3%. Gold hit a 10-month high to stand at $1,335.90.
Michael McCarthy of CMC Markets in Sydney said: “The White House and Pyongyang are once again strumming taut investor nerves. The announcement of a [claimed] hydrogen bomb test and retaliatory threats from the US are depressing market sentiment in early morning trading. The news hits markets as participants prepare for a data-heavy week.”
There’s relatively little on the front pages of China’s state-run newspapers this morning about Sunday’s nuclear test. Chinese president Xi Jinping is hosting the annual Brics summit in south-east China and Beijing’s propaganda chiefs are determined not to allow Kim Jong-un to steal the spotlight.
The Communist party’s official mouthpiece, the People’s Daily, has just one line about the crisis, beneath a photograph of Xi welcoming Russian president Vladimir Putin to China yesterday.
Just 1 sentence abt #NorthKoreaNuketest on front page of China's People's Daily today: Xi & Putin agree to deal with problem "appropriately" pic.twitter.com/OmGO3ajAun
— Tom Phillips (@tomphillipsin) September 4, 2017
Its report says the pair agreed to “appropriately deal” with the situation and to maintain “close communication and coordination”.
The English-language China Daily, an international mouthpiece for China’s government, has more to say. In an editorial, the newspaper says North Korea’s latest test “indicates it has taken a big step in its pursuit of nuclear prowess”.
“The latest development … if true, may indeed give Pyongyang the means to carry out its threats of launching doomsday attacks on enemy targets. Given Pyongyang’s readiness to put to use each and every of its newly acquired capabilities against perceived enemies, this is a particularly dangerous move in its tactic of using nuclear and missile tests to draw attention to its demands,” the China Daily argues.
Closing following Beijing’s official line, the newspaper says it is now time to return to the negotiating table with North Korea.
“Sunday’s test will obviously not be its last show of defiance ... [The international community must now consider] Pyongyang’s genuine needs, especially food and national security.”
The sun rises over the Friendship bridge, which connects the North Korean town of Sinuiju with the Chinese border city of Dandong.
A key threat made by Trump in the wake of the North Korea’s six and biggest nuclear test was the halting of trade with countries that trade with isolated state.
That threat is not being seen as credible, write our world affairs editor, Julian Borger, and Tokyo correspondent, Justin McCurry:
In 2016, the US imported $463bn worth of goods from China, North Korea’s biggest trade partner. Cutting off trade with Beijing would trigger a protectionist spiral that would create a global recession.
Steven Mnuchin, the US treasury secretary, said he would begin drafting a new package of sanctions. A previous round had targeted mostly Chinese companies that did business with North Korea. “We’ve already started with sanctions against North Korea but I am going to draft a sanctions package to send to the president for his strong consideration,” Mnuchin told Fox News.
However, former officials and analysts said that much would depend on how China now reacted. Beijing had repeatedly warned the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, not to carry out another nuclear test.
You can read the full analysis here:
Here is the readout arising from Trump’s phone call with Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe yesterday, in which he reaffirms a commitment to defend US allies “using the full range of diplomatic, conventional and nuclear capabilities”.
There is some talk today of how many times Trump has spoken to Abe as opposed to South Korean president Moon Jae-in, whom the US president criticised for his “talk of appeasement”.
WH statement on Trump's call with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe: pic.twitter.com/B0q2iQsXa4
— Kristina Wong (@kristina_wong) September 3, 2017
It is worth noting that, after the previous missile test from North Korea, Trump and South Korean president Moon Jae-in held a phone call on enhancing Seoul’s own missile capabilities.
KoreaJoongAng Daily reports that a spokesman for the Blue House (the South Korean president’s official residence) said the two agreed “in principle” on the need to improve its missile defences.
Present guideline prohibit South Korea from developing ballistic missiles with a range of over 800km (497 miles) and a payload exceeding 500kg (1,102lb). Seoul is seeking to revise it, reportedly with an aim to double the warhead weight limit, the newspaper reports.
Xi Jinping takes Russian president Vladimir Putin on a tour of China’s cultural heritage on Sunday. The Brics summit provides an opportunity for the two world leaders with close links to North Korea to discuss how to tackle Pyongyang.
South Korea’s Monday newspapers are dominated by news of the nuclear test, with varying degrees of scepticism about the claim that a hydrogen bomb was tested.
English-language dailies, such as Korea JoongAng Daily, Korea Herald and Korea Times, focus on the claim of a hydrogen bomb. The Korean dailies say the nuclear test crossed a “red line” and appear to accept the hydrogen bomb claim.
The business dailies focus on fears Donald Trump might scrap the free trade agreement with South Korea. He is to speak to his advisers about the deal this week.
South Korea holds live-fire missile exercises
South Korea’s military has said it conducted live-fire exercises involving its Hyunmoo ballistic missile and F-15K fighter jets in response to the North’s nuclear test.
News agency Yonhap reported the surface-to-surface missile and the F-15K’s long-range air-to-ground missile hit targets in the East Sea.
The South’s military said the distance to the simulated targets was set in consideration of the North’s Punggye-ri nuclear test site.
The annual Brics summit continues today following an opening address from China’s president, Xi Jinping, yesterday in which he referred to a “dark shadow” across the world that threatens peace.
He told the three-day summit in Xiamen, south-eastern China: “The intertwined threats of terrorism and a lack of cybersecurity – among others – have cast a dark shadow over the world. People around the world want peace and cooperation, not conflict or confrontation.”
Hi address came hours after news broke of North Korea’s nuclear test. Read the full report from our Beijing correspondent, Tom Phillips, here:
Here is a fuller take on Prime Minister Turnbull’s recent comments. He said the Korean peninsula was “closer to war than at any time” since the Korean War.
North Korea 'must pay significant price', says Australia
The Australian prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull has said China is best placed to pressure the North Korean regime to come to the negotiating table.
Doing the media rounds on Monday morning before parliament returned from a winter break, Turnbull said: “The Chinese are frustrated and dismayed by North Korea’s conduct, but China has the greatest leverage, and with the greatest leverage comes the greatest responsibility.”
“Right at that moment, Kim Jong-un has chosen to affront China, to defy China, and this calls for a strong Chinese response.”
However, he noted the “cruel and evil dictatorship” was not a puppet state of China.
The Australian foreign minister, Julie Bishop, returned to the issue of cutting oil supplies to North Korea, saying it would be unprecedented and would have a significant impact.
“We have to bring unprecedented pressure to bear because North Korea will have to pay a significant price for this latest nuclear test,” she told the Seven Network on Monday.
Summary
Here’s a summary of where things stand:
- The White House responded to North Korea’s biggest nuclear test to date with a sharp warning delivered by defense secretary James Mattis outside the White House.
- “Because we are not looking to the total annihilation of a country, namely North Korea, but as I said we have many options to do so,” Mattis said.
- Mattis said “any threat” against any US territory “or our allies will be met with a massive military response.” Transcript
WATCH: Defense Secretary Mattis's full statement on North Korea. pic.twitter.com/p9xA8Q0M0C
— Fox News (@FoxNews) September 3, 2017
- Asked whether the United States would attack North Korea, Donald Trump said, “we’ll see.” Video
- Trump turned on ally South Korea, tweeting: “South Korea is finding, as I have told them, that their talk of appeasement with North Korea will not work, they only understand one thing!”
- The test reflects the failure of Trump’s bellicose rhetoric on North Korea, the Guardian’s Julian Borger writes.
- Welcoming BRIC-member nations to a summit, Chinese president Xi Jinping did not mention North Korea but said “incessant conflicts in some parts of the world and hotspot issues are posing challenges to world peace.”
- The United Nations security council called a meeting for Monday. Nations around the world condemned the test.
- Trump spoke with Japanese premier Shinzo Abe and “confirmed the two countries’ ironclad mutual defense commitments,” the White House said.
- Theresa May condemned the test as “reckless”, saying it is more pressing than ever to look at increasing the pace of implementing sanctions on the regime.
- North Korea’s claim that it had tested a hydrogen bomb was not implausible. The test caused an earthquake of magnitude 6.3. Read about the test.
- During a broadcast on North Korea’s state news agency KNCA, Pyongyang claimed it was close to developing a nuclear warhead capable of being fitted on to an intercontinental ballistic missile.
- The Guardian view on North Korea: keep calm and carry on.
Updated
UN security council to meet Monday
The UN Security Council has scheduled an emergency meeting after North Korea conducted its most powerful nuclear test to date, the Associated Press reports:
The U.S., Japan, France, Britain and South Korea requested Monday’s meeting after North Korea detonated what it called a hydrogen bomb.
It will be the Security Council’s second urgent session in under a week on the North’s weapons tests, which have continued in the face of a series of sanctions.
After North Korea launched a ballistic missile over Japan, the council Tuesday strongly condemned the test and reiterated demands that Pyongyang halt its ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs.
Monday could bring additional condemnation and discussion of other potential steps.
Meanwhile, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned Sunday’s nuclear test. His spokesman calls it “profoundly destabilizing for regional security.”
Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, says he supports efforts to “maximize pressure against the North Korean regime”:
North Korea’s threatening actions today are a sober reminder that all nations, including China, must do everything in their power to stop and reverse Pyongyang’s growing nuclear and missile programs. We cannot live in a world held hostage by Kim Jong Un’s nuclear blackmail, and I support U.S.-led international efforts to maximize pressure against the North Korean regime and its foreign enablers.
Here’s a rundown of countries Trump might have been talking about when he threatened to stop all trade with countries “doing business with North Korea”:
North Korea. Top trade export partners:
— ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) September 3, 2017
China 83%
India 3.5%
Pakistan 1.5%
Burkina Faso 1.2%
Other 10.8%
(h/t: @bencjacobs)
Updated
Some reaction to the decision to have the defense secretary and a general make the North Korea statement:
#Mattis and @GenDunford make White House on camera nuke statement. Unprecedented.. Both acknowledge being adverse to appearing on TV news.
— Barbara Starr (@barbarastarrcnn) September 3, 2017
Big signal having SecDef address crisis not Natl Security advisor (and where was Tillerson?) NK China Russia know Mattis speaks for Trump
— Andrea Mitchell (@mitchellreports) September 3, 2017
This from a former Obama deputy national security adviser:
Also a signal in the direction of military options, not diplomacy which could deescalate https://t.co/6UP6QOEH8U
— Ben Rhodes (@brhodes) September 3, 2017
Here’s Trump a month ago laying out the administration’s North Korea policy:
We’ll handle North Korea. We’re going to be able to handle North – it will be uh, it will be handled. We handle everything. Thank you very much.
Pres. Trump on North Korea: "We'll handle North Korea...it will be handled. We handle everything." https://t.co/GPcDeCro2w pic.twitter.com/WcbX1keymZ
— ABC News (@ABC) August 1, 2017
(h/t @bencjacobs)
Full Mattis statement: 'we have many options' to annihilate North Korea
Here’s a transcript of the statement by defense secretary James Mattis, with video at bottom:
Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen.
We had a small-group national security meeting today with the president and the vice-president about the latest provocation on the Korean peninsula.
We have many military options and the president wanted to be briefed on each one of them.
We made clear that we have the ability to defend ourselves and our allies, South Korea and Japan, from any attack and our commitments among the allies are iron-clad. Any threat to the United States or its territories including Guam, or our allies, will be met with a massive military response, a response both effective and overwhelming.
Kim Jong-un should take heed of the United Nations security council’s unified voice, all members unanimously agreed on the threat North Korea poses, and they remain unanimous in their commitment to the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.
Because we are not looking to the total annihilation of a country, namely North Korea, but as I said we have many options to do so.
Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen.
WATCH: Defense Secretary Mattis's full statement on North Korea. pic.twitter.com/p9xA8Q0M0C
— Fox News (@FoxNews) September 3, 2017
Updated
Defense Secretary James Mattis warned North Korea that the United States has “many” military options Trump could use to deal with its nuclear arms and long-range missile programs, Mattis told reporters outside the White House.
Here’s more from the press pool report:
Standing outside the West Wing after a “small group” meeting with Trump, Mattis said any major threat to the United States or its allies would be met with a “massive” military response that would be “overwhelming.”
But, he said, the Trump administration is not looking for the “annihilation” of any country, including North Korea.
Mattis was flanked by Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford. The duo did not respond to several shouted questions, including whether war with North Korea is now inevitable.
Mattis warns of 'massive military response' to 'any threat'
Defense secretary James Mattis has spoken outside the White House. “We are not looking for the annihilation of North Korea, we have many options,” he says.
He also said that “any threat to the United States or its territories including Guam or our allies will be met with a massive military response.”
Here’s video:
Mattis: "Any threat to the United States or its territories including Guam or our allies will be met with a massive military response." pic.twitter.com/w1Dc9Deo6y
— Fox News (@FoxNews) September 3, 2017
White House statement anticipated
The White House has advised the press pool to assemble outside the West Wing for a statement. It’s not known who will deliver the statement.
Trump's trade threat not seen as credible
Donald Trump huddled with his national security advisers on Sunday to try to decide on a response to North Korea’s sixth and most powerful nuclear test.
Pyongyang said it had detonated a hydrogen bomb, using nuclear fusion as well as fission, and the seismic data suggested a blast that was ten times as big as any of its previous tests.
Before meeting his advisors, Trump was asked if he was considering a military response. “We’ll see,” he replied.
However, his initial responses on Twitter suggested the key aspect of the US reaction would be a call on China and other trading partners to tighten the economic vice on North Korea.
“The United States is considering, in addition to other options, stopping all trade with any country doing business with North Korea,” Trump tweeted.
The threat was not seen as credible. In 2016, the US imported $463bn worth of goods from China, North Korea’s biggest trade partner. Cutting off trade with Beijing would trigger a protectionist spiral that would create a global recession.
Steven Mnuchin, the US treasury secretary, said he would begin drafting a new package of sanctions. A previous round had targeted mostly Chinese companies that did business with North Korea. “We’ve already started with sanctions against North Korea but I am going to draft a sanctions package to send to the president for his strong consideration,” Mnuchin told Fox News.
Read further:
The president of the European Commission says North Korea’s latest nuclear test compels the international community to unite in swift and decisive reaction, the Associated Press reports:
Donald Tusk said the European Union stands ready to sharpen its policy of sanctions and invites North Korea to restart dialogue on its nuclear and missile programs without condition.
In Sunday’s statement, Tusk said the EU calls on the U.N. Security Council “to adopt further U.N. sanctions and show stronger resolve to achieve a peaceful denuclearization of the Korean peninsula,” adding, “The stakes are getting too high.”
He said North Korea must abandon its nuclear weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs in a verifiable and irreversible manner and it must cease all related activities at once.
Turkey has strongly condemned the latest North Korean nuclear test, the Associated Press reports:
In a statement published Sunday, Turkey’s foreign ministry said the test was “irresponsible and provocative,” while ignoring international law and endangering regional peace and security.
Turkish troops were part of a United Nations command aiding South Korea during the Korean War between 1950 and 1953. More than 700 soldiers died in the battles.
Thanks to @bencjacobs for sending along reactions to the North Korea test from senators as they come in. Here’s a roundup:
Jeff Flake, Republican of Arizona: “we see the limits of economic sanctions”
Well, what we have been doing over the years has certainly not slowed the advance of their nuclear program, but I don’t think that harsh rhetoric does either. I think that they’re moving. Certainly, sanctions are -- are not, you know, arresting that development either. So just about nothing we have done so far has helped slow it down. They seem intent on moving forward. Obviously, we hope that China exercises its leverage. They have considerably more leverage than we do. But I think, given where they are, we see the limits of economic sanctions obviously on North Korea.
Ben Sasse, Republican of Nebraska: Kim “must be confronted”
If North Korea has in fact successfully tested a nuclear warhead that can be loaded onto an intercontinental ballistic missile, Kim Jong-un is clearly threatening the American people. He must be confronted. The United States, our allies and partners, and those who are still enabling Pyongyang must confront and change Kim Jong-un’s calculus of terror. Diplomatically if we can. Militarily if we must.
Adam Schiff, Democrat of California: “bellicose tweets are not productive”
I think these erratic and often bellicose tweets are not productive, and could be counterproductive with a regime like North Korea that already fears we’re going to invade and have imperialist ambitions. So I don’t think that makes much sense, and it could also cause them to miscalculate in a way that could really escalate things. I think a far better approach, frankly, is to look at the lessons in how we dealt with Iran, and how we dealt with the Soviet Union, in terms of either getting a cessation or roll back of their nuclear programs. There are some good templates for us to use, but none of them involve the fiery kind of rhetoric that is more appropriate for Pyongyang than Washington.
Chris Coons, Democrat of Delaware: “consult closely with Congress”
I urge President Trump to consult closely with Congress, to rely on his national security and diplomatic team and to continue working with the UN and China to increase pressure on North Korea through tougher sanctions, while also strengthening our defensive anti-missile capabilities. It is urgent that we speed up deployment and development of systems that can defend our homeland and our vital allies South Korea and Japan.
Joe Donnelly, Democrat of Indiana: “comprehensive strategy”
North Korea’s provocative tests are a threat to the U.S. and the entire global community. I reiterate my urgent call that North Korea’s unacceptable actions be met by a comprehensive U.S. strategy that involves our allies from around the world. It is also long past time for China to step up to seriously and credibly confront the North Korean threat, a topic I will be pressing this week as the Senate Banking Committee examines sanctions enforcement on both North Korea and China.
The Guardian view on North Korea: keep calm and carry on
From a just-published editorial:
The worst possible outcome of the crisis in the Korean peninsula would be a nuclear war. The second worst would be a conventional one. From these simple platitudes everything else follows. The North Korean regime is undoubtedly vile. Its bombs are unnecessary and bought at the cost of great human suffering. The long-term goal of any foreign policy must be to await and, so far as possible, to hasten the end of the dictatorship. But military intervention is no longer a credible option.
It could be argued that it never was. The US military seems to have believed since at least 1995 that any war on the Korean peninsula would result in unacceptable casualties and costs. In that case one of the ironies of the present situation is that North Korea has proved, by building one, that it never actually needed a nuclear deterrent. The threat that its conventional artillery and army posed to the South Korean capital, Seoul, where 10 million people live in their range, was enough to preserve the country from a possible attack. Unhappily, it is in the nature of paranoid autocrats like the Kim dynasty never to be satisfied with the security they have and always to want more. But that is water under the bridge now.
To talk of nuclear weapons in rational terms of deterrence and the balance of force is always slightly misleading...
Read further:
India, Pakistan and the Philippines are among many Asian nations condemning North Korea’s nuclear test, the Associated Press reports:
Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter S. Cayetano, in Seoul for an official visit Sunday, said his country is “gravely concerned” about the detonation and added, “Such provocative actions undermine regional peace and stability.”
Cayetano says the Association of Southeast Asian Nations is ready to help in any effort to ease the tensions through dialogue.
The Indian Ministry of External Affairs issued a statement deploring Sunday’s blast. It says the North “once again acted in violation of its international commitments.”
Pakistan’s condemnation of the test also urged all sides “to display utmost restraint and return toward the path of peaceful negotiated settlement of the issue.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has spoken by telephone with Japanese leader Shinzo Abe and urged restraint in responding to North Korea’s claim to have set off a hydrogen bomb test, the Associated Press reports:
Putin, in China for a meeting of leaders of the BRICS economic bloc, called Abe on Sunday.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists that Putin “said the international community could not give in to emotions, should act calmly and deliberately, and stressed that the complex settlement of the nuclear and other problems of the Korean Peninsula can be achieved exclusively through political and diplomatic means.”
Analysis: was test a hydrogen bomb as claimed?
North Korea’s nuclear test created tremors around the world. Shockwaves were first picked up at a seismic station 230 miles away in Mudanjiang, China, where the needle sprang into action less than a minute after the blast. Seconds later, the tremors reached instruments in South Korea and Japan, and within 12 minutes had been detected in Canada, Australia and at the Eskdalemuir Observatory in Scotland.
More than 130 stations recorded shockwaves, which after 20 minutes had reached as far as Argentina 12,000 miles from the test site.
Based on the strength of the tremors, equivalent to a magnitude 6.3 earthquake, according to the US Geological Survey, nuclear weapons specialists put the yield of the bomb at about 100 kilotons. That is roughly 10 times more powerful than previous nuclear bombs tested by the North Koreans, including what was claimed to be another hydrogen bomb at the same Punggye-ri facility in January 2016.
Analysts have been sceptical that the 2016 test involved a hydrogen bomb because the energy released was comparatively small, but the latest test leaves less room for doubt, according to Anne Strømmen Lycke at Norsar, the Norwegian centre responsible for detecting nuclear tests.
“From the seismic signal alone it’s not possible to tell the difference between a conventional atomic explosion and a hydrogen bomb, but when it’s as large as this one, the credibility of the claim that it’s an H-bomb increases dramatically,” she said.
Hydrogen bombs can be a lot more powerful than conventional atomic bombs. In conventional atomic bombs, the blast is produced by atoms being ripped in two. But the fission process is inefficient and the bombs tend to be big and heavy. H-bombs instead fuse hydrogen atoms together to create heavier elements, a process that releases far more energy.
Read further:
Updated
Trump says US looking at 'stopping all trade' with NK partners
Trump seems to threaten a shutdown of US trade with China:
The United States is considering, in addition to other options, stopping all trade with any country doing business with North Korea.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 3, 2017
In 2016, the United States imported $463bn worth of goods from China, more than from anywhere else, according to the US trade representative.
Experts believe an end to that trading relationship would have devastating repercussions for the US economy, but it doesn’t take an expert to see how. American homes are filled with Chinese-made goods, most likely including components of whatever computer or TV hardware you are reading this on. If the price of those goods leapt by half...
This obvious bluff makes the US look incredibly weak--openly advertises how few viable options exist other than China squeezing North Korea. https://t.co/shdIo0GdjF
— Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) September 3, 2017
Updated
Trump announces a meeting about North Korea. Thank you.
I will be meeting General Kelly, General Mattis and other military leaders at the White House to discuss North Korea. Thank you.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 3, 2017
Video: Trump says 'we'll see' about attacking North Korea
Here’s video of the “we’ll see” moment:
Updated
Analysis: Test reflects failure of Trump's bellicose rhetoric
Donald Trump responded to North Korea’s sixth nuclear test by turning on one of Washington’s closest allies in the region, South Korea, blaming it on Seoul’s policy of “appeasement”.
Pyongyang’s rhetoric and actions leading up to the test have been aimed at the US, however, and detonation of the most powerful nuclear device the regime has built so far reflects the failure of any remaining hope Trump might have had that his own bellicose rhetoric would work as a deterrent.
Since the US president’s warning that “fire and fury” would befall North Korea if it continued to threaten the US, Kim Jong-un has unveiled a detailed plan to fire a salvo of missile at the US Pacific of Guam, conducted its most provocative ballistic missile test to date, flying it over Japan territory, and carried out its most ambitious nuclear test, of what it claims is a thermonuclear device. Initial estimates suggest it may have been a two-stage bomb perhaps ten times more powerful than the biggest of the earlier tests.
Trump’s response in a series of Sunday morning tweets was to lash out at China, saying North Korea had become a “great threat and embarrassment” to Beijing, but more strikingly at the South Korean government of Moon Jae-in.
“South Korea is finding, as I have told them, that their talk of appeasement with North Korea will not work, they only understand one thing!” Trump tweeted.
Moon, who was elected in May, has cautioned against threatening a pre-emptive attack against North Korea and insisted that South Korea, which would almost certainly bear the brunt of a response, would have to be consulted before major military action.
Read further:
Trump on attacking North Korea: 'we'll see'
As he left a prayer service moments ago, Trump was asked whether he will attack North Korea, Reuters reports.
Trump’s reply: “We’ll see.”
Trump was asked "will you attack North Korea?" "We'll see," he replied on leaving church service.
— Steve Holland (@steveholland1) September 3, 2017
North Korea’s neighbors are looking for radiation from its nuclear test, but they might not find any, the Associated Press reports:
The North said the underground test site where it detonated what it described as a hydrogen bomb did not leak radioactive materials. If that’s true, it will be difficult for outsiders to determine whether the device was indeed a thermonuclear weapon or a simpler nuclear bomb.
Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority says no abnormal change in radiation levels had been detected on monitoring posts across the country as of Sunday night.
China’s National Nuclear Safety Administration says it activated nuclear radiation-related environmental contingency plans shortly after the test was conducted. It said in a statement on its website that automatic environmental radiation monitoring stations in China’s northeast were operating normally.
Senator Ted Cruz, speaking with ABC News from the scene of flooding damage in Texas, says “the president speaks in ways that I wouldn’t speak” on North Korea “but that is his prerogative”:
Ted Cruz on Trump's rhetoric toward North Korea: "The president speaks in ways I wouldn't speak..." pic.twitter.com/rzbKA3NsCx
— Axios (@axios) September 3, 2017
Separately, NBC News cites unnamed government experts who have been analyzing the North Korean test. Technical experts are working to confirm the details, NBC reports, “but there is no reason to doubt it was a test of an advance nuclear device. Remaining variables include whether it was hydrogen as claimed.”
Senator Bob Corker, the chairman of the foreign relations committee, has released a statement calling for a “comprehensive strategy” on North Korea that “places an emphasis on deterrence”. Tweet from Corker’s communications director:
.@SenBobCorker has spoken with the White House this morning about North Korea's latest nuclear test. His full statement: pic.twitter.com/aC3h5J7CEy
— Micah (@MicahTNDC) September 3, 2017
Trump’s tweet of Sunday morning taking a swipe at South Korea – “South Korea is finding, as I have told them, that their talk of appeasement with North Korea will not work, they only understand one thing!” the president wrote – is breaking news in South Korea, notes the Tokyo bureau chief of the Washington Post:
South Korean media right now: Trump's "talk of appeasement" tweet is breaking news pic.twitter.com/9VwqglWKSp
— Anna Fifield (@annafifield) September 3, 2017
Donald Trump’s public response to North Korea’s test so far has been limited to three tweets calling North Korea a “great threat” and lecturing South Korea about “appeasement.” The White House says Trump is meeting with national security advisers later today.
This morning, Donald and Melania Trump are attending a church service for a National Day of Prayer declared for those impacted by hurricane Harvey, CNN reports.
Barack Obama included some words about the United States’ “indispensible” role in world affairs in an Inauguration Day letter for Trump, advising that “it’s up to us” to “sustain the international order.”
The text of the 275-word letter has emerged for the first time this morning. CNN obtained a copy, which reads in part:
Second, American leadership in this world really is indispensable. It’s up to us, through action and example, to sustain the international order that’s expanded steadily since the end of the Cold War, and upon which our own wealth and safety depend.
Steven Mnuchin, Trump’s treasury secretary and a member of his national security council, has said that he wants to cut off North Korea’s economy because of the test.
“It’s clear that this behavior is completely unacceptable,” he told Fox News. “We have already started with sanctions but I’m going to draft a sanctions package that I’m going to send to the president for his strong consideration, that anybody that wants to do trade or business with them [North Korea] would be prevented from doing trade or business with us. People need to cut off North Korea, economically.”
When asked if the US would take a much tougher stance with Chinese financial institutions and companies in that regard, Mnuchin said: “We are going to strongly consider everything at this point.”
He refused to comment on “classified things” such as whether the test was a hydrogen bomb, not just an atomic bomb, and whether the US believed that North Korea had now miniaturized its nuclear capability to the point where it could put a nuclear warhead on an intercontinental ballistic missile.
“I can only say that the intelligence community has been doing an amazing job,” he said.
He said he had spoken to Trump about the issue that morning, but refused to clarify what the president meant when he said North Korea only understood “one thing”, or comment on the prospect of military action.
“The president has made it clear this is not the time for just talk, this is the time for action,” Mnuchin said. “Our objective will continue to be to de-nuclearize the peninsula … He will consider everything but we are not going to broadcast our actions. My focus right now is on additional economic sanctions. China has a lot of trade with them, there is a lot we can do to cut them off economically.”
Texas Representative Joaquin Castro, who sits on the House foreign affairs committee, notes in an interview with ABC News that hundreds of thousands of Americans in South Korea and Japan “would be in harm’s way” in case of military action in the region.
Almost 30,000 US troops are stationed on the Korean peninsula. Read further:
Updated
This is Tom McCarthy in New York – I’ll be continuing to update you on the latest news from North Korea throughout the morning.
May calls test 'reckless', urges sanctions
Theresa May has condemned the latest nuclear test by North Korea as “reckless”, saying it is more pressing than ever to look at increasing the pace of implementing sanctions on the regime, writes the Guardian’s Jessica Elgot:
The prime minister said the test, North Korea’s sixth since 2006, “poses an unacceptable further threat to the international community.”
May reiterated the call she made with Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe during her trip to Japan last week for tougher action against Kim Jong-un.
“I discussed the serious and grave threat these dangerous and illegal actions present with President Abe in Japan this week and reiterate the call we jointly made for tougher action, including increasing the pace of implementation of existing sanctions and looking urgently in the UN Security Council at new measures,” she said.
“This is now even more pressing. The international community has universally condemned this test and must come together to continue to increase the pressure on North Korea’s leaders to stop their destabilising actions.”
Updated
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders has issued a statement saying Donald Trump will meet with his national security team later today to discuss the North Korean nuclear test.
Here is the short statement in full:
The national security team is monitoring this closely. The president and his national security team will have a meeting to discuss further later today. We will provide updates as necessary.
Boris Johnson has warned there “no easy military solution” to preventing North Korea escalating its nuclear aggression but said all options were still on the table for retaliation after the regime’s nuclear weapons test.
The foreign secretary said it was not clear how a military response from the West would be possible, given the proximity of the South Korean capital, Seoul, to the North Korean border.
Any military challenge to Kim Jong-un’s regime could come at huge cost to civilian lives in South Korea, Johnson said.
“It’s certainly our view that none of the military options are good,” he told reporters after North Korea announced it had tested a powerful hydrogen bomb that could be loaded on to an intercontinental ballistic missile
“It is of course right to say that all options are on the table, but we really don’t see an easy military solution,” he said. Were the west to hit back with force against North Korea, “they could basically vapourise” large parts of the population even with conventional weapons, Johnson warned.
“So that’s not really very easy to threaten and to deliver,” he said. “Much more productive we think is to continue with the international diplomatic effort.”
Updated
Trump responds to nuclear test
North Korea has conducted a major Nuclear Test. Their words and actions continue to be very hostile and dangerous to the United States.....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 3, 2017
..North Korea is a rogue nation which has become a great threat and embarrassment to China, which is trying to help but with little success.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 3, 2017
South Korea is finding, as I have told them, that their talk of appeasement with North Korea will not work, they only understand one thing!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 3, 2017
Anna Fifield, the Tokyo bureau chief for Washington Post, has tweeted the front page of Rodong Sinmun, a North Korean newspaper. The headline, she says, reads: “Respected supreme leader comrade Kim Jong-un directs the nuclear weapons project.”
North Korea's Rodong Sinmun: H-bomb warhead edition. "Respected Supreme Leader Comrade Kim Jong Un directs the nuclear weapons project" pic.twitter.com/FioltAifXs
— Anna Fifield (@annafifield) September 3, 2017
Updated
A dark shadow is looming over the world after more than half a century of peace, the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, has said after North Korea’s sixth nuclear test.
Xi made no direct reference to Sunday morning’s detonation as he addressed an annual summit of the Brics nations but told his audience that only through dialogue, consultation and negotiation could “the flame of war be put out”.
Photograph: Mark Schiefelbein / POOL/EPA
“Thanks to the joint effort of all countries, global peace has reigned for more than half a century. However, incessant conflicts in some parts of the world and hotspot issues are posing challenges to world peace,” Xi said in his 40-minute address to a summit between Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa in south-east China.
“The intertwined threats of terrorism and a lack of cybersecurity – among others – have cast a dark shadow over the world. People around the world want peace and cooperation, not conflict or confrontation.”
More on that story here:
Updated
In South Korea, residents are continuing as normal despite the actions of their unpredictable neighbour.
Yeon Park, from Gimhae in southern South Korea, says no one really cares as it’s happened before. He told the Guardian:
To be honest, not many South Koreans realise the reality [of the situation] including myself. What North Korea is doing is on air everyday on the news, but I don’t think people here care about it a lot. Even I don’t really care about it as this kind of news has occurred many times.
Hyunhee Kim also said she wasn’t paying much attention:
I know it is an emergency. But this happens often and the end is always quiet and nothing happened. So I do not worry about it again. News comes from multiple channels, but I do not pay much attention. I don’t know how things are going, but I do not think there will be anything particularly bad this time again.
Elliot Morris, an English teacher from the UK who has lived in South Korea since 2010, also isn’t too worried. He said:
I don’t feel too anxious or concerned at the moment. I normally take the policy of seeing how my Korean colleagues and friends react to these bits of news from the North. It seems like business as usual today. I stopped getting worried about these things a few years ago. However, I’m probably keeping a closer eye on it at the moment as there has been an uptick in the Northern Korean chest beating of late.
James Newman, another English teacher from the UK who lives in Busan, said Donald Trump is the main concern among South Korean friends and colleagues.
The Western media seem to be more worried with the situation [than they are here]. I guess it’s because South Korea is so used to this strong rhetoric and has had a history of threats against them. The only game changer is that I spoken to a few nervous individuals that are more concerned about the unpredictability of President Trump. As far as I’m concerned it’s business as usual.
Updated
In China, The Global Times, a nationalist, Communist party-run tabloid that sometimes reflects Beijing’s way of thinking, has put out this English-language editorial.
“This is another wrong choice that Pyongyang has made in violation of UN security council resolutions and the will of the international community. This test will result in a new round of escalating tensions on the Korean peninsula and heighten the risk of the situation spiralling out of control due to possible miscalculations by all sides,” the newspaper warns.
“Currently, the most important thing for China is to make sure that we are able to detect if a nuclear leak occurs, to allow us to inform people living in the north-eastern China to take the appropriate safety measures.”
Updated
Japan says North Korea poses a "grave and urgent" threat
Japan’s prime minister has said North Korea’s nuclear test is “absolutely unacceptable” and said its nuclear and missile programmes pose a “more grave and urgent” threat to his country.
“The fact that North Korea forced through a nuclear test this time is absolutely unacceptable to our country,” Shinzo Abe said in a statement.
The statement continued:
North Korea’s nuclear and missile development programme is a threat that is more grave and urgent to the safety of our country and has entered a new stage. It is significantly hurting regional and international peace and stability. Our country lodge a strict protest against North Korea and condemns it in the strongest words.
Updated
John Delury, a North Korea expert at Yonsei University in Seoul, wrote an analysis earlier today on what needs to happen next to calm the situation down. Donald Trump has a very big part to play, he said.
The test does not fundamentally change the situation on the Korean peninsula, though it is another acceleration. What is still missing is diplomacy. It is up to the Trump administration whether they want to flip this into an opportunity to belatedly start talking directly to Pyongyang, or just continue down the beaten track of shows of force, more UN sanctions, and secondary sanctions.
Updated
The United Nations nuclear watchdog said the test was “extremely regrettable” and called North Korea’s nuclear programme a “grave concern”.
Yukiya Amano, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said:
Today’s nuclear test by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) is an extremely regrettable act ... Once again, I strongly urge the to fully implement all relevant resolutions. The agency continues to closely follow developments in the DPRK*s nuclear programme, which is a matter of grave concern.
North Korea said the test was a successful detonation of an advanced hydrogen bomb rather than a standard nuclear fission device.
The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organisation (CTBT), which monitors seismic and radionuclide data worldwide, said the explosion was stronger than previous blasts and was located at the site of earlier nuclear tests.
The CTBT bans all nuclear explosions but it will only enter into force if all countries with advanced nuclear technology ratify it. The outstanding nations are China, Egypt, North Korea, India, Iran, Israel, Pakistan and the US.
Lassina Zerbo, the CTBT’s secretary general, said:
If confirmed as a nuclear test, this act would indicate that the DPRK’s nuclear programme is advancing rapidly. I sincerely hope that this will serve as the final wake-up call to the international community to outlaw all nuclear testing by bringing the CTBT into force.
Updated
For background reading, my colleague Pádraig Collins has put together this timeline of North Korea’s nuclear weapon development.
The apparent nuclear test today is the sixth test that North Korea is thought to have carried out since 2006. According to South Korean authorities, the test was about 11 times stronger than North Korea’s test in January last year and up to six times stronger than its test last September.
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Russia and France condemn North Korea's actions
The Russian foreign ministry said on Sunday it was deeply concerned about a reported nuclear test by North Korea. The ministry said it regretted that the leadership of North Korea was “creating a serious threat” for the region and warned that “the continuation of such a line is fraught with serious consequences” for Pyongyang.
The statement on the ministry’s website said:
This latest demonstrative disregard by Pyongyang of the requirements of the relevant resolutions of the UN security council and the norms of international law deserves the strongest condemnation.
In the unfolding conditions, it is imperative to remain calm and to refrain from any actions that lead to a further escalation of tension. We call on all interested parties to immediately return to dialogue and negotiations as the only possible way for an overall settlement of the problems of the Korean peninsula.
Meanwhile, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, released a statement that said the international community, including the UN security council, on which the country sits, should react quickly and firmly to North Korea’s latest nuclear test.
The President of the Republic calls on the members of the United Nations security council to quickly react to this new violation by North Korea of international law.
The international community must treat this new provocation with the utmost firmness, in order to bring North Korea back unconditionally to the path of dialogue and to proceed to the complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantling of its nuclear and ballistic programme.
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The US is "firmly committed" to defending Japan
During an emergency call between US national security adviser HR McMaster and his Japanese counterpart, McMaster said Washington was firmly committed to defending Japan, including with its nuclear deterrent, following North Korea’s latest nuclear test.
The security official made the assurance during a telephone call to Shotarou Taniuchi, the director-general of the Japanese national security council, according to a Japanese government statement.
Under Japan’s alliance treaty with the US, Washington has pledged to defend Japan. It has put Japan under its nuclear umbrella, meaning it could respond to any attack on Japan with atomic weapons.
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China’s nuclear safety administration said it had begun emergency monitoring for radiation along the border after North Korea carried out its sixth nuclear test.
The test was widely felt in north-east China and rocked some cities for as long as eight seconds, according to reports and accounts on social media. It was felt as far away as the city of Changchun, about 250 miles (400km north-west of North Korea’s test site at Punggye-ri, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
Tremor felt in Yanji city on China's border, as a 6.3-magnitude shallow earthquake struck North Korea pic.twitter.com/EpnCnhiSFZ
— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) September 3, 2017
Witnesses in the Chinese city of Yanji, which borders North Korea, said they felt a tremor that lasted several seconds. Some people said they ran out of their homes in fear.
Michael Spavor, director of the Paektu Cultural Exchange, told Reuters:
I was eating brunch just over the border here in Yanji when we felt the whole building shake. It lasted for about five seconds. The city air raid sirens started going off.
One person wrote on Chinese microblog Weibo:
I put my underpants on and I just ran, and when I reached the first floor I can say I wasn’t the only one running away with just my underpants on.
Another, as reported by AFP said:
I was lying down and sleeping when the tremor woke me up. At first, I thought it was a dream.
Updated
Guam homeland security and the office of civil defence has released a statement via its Facebook page seeking to reassure citizens. The statement said the situation was being closely monitored by security chiefs.
There are no known immediate threats assessed for Guam and the Marianas at this time. The threat level remains the same.
Guam, a sovereign US territory in the western Pacific Ocean, is used by the US as a strategic military base. The small remote island is within range of North Korean medium- and long-range missiles and in August was threatened by North Korea.
Pyongyang said at the time it was “carefully examining” a plan to strike Guam, located 3,400km (2,100 miles) away, and threatened to create an “enveloping fire” around the territory.
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The nuclear test will create maximum embarrassment for Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, experts have said. Xi was only hours from opening the summit of the BRICS nations – the association of five major emerging national economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – when news of the test emerged.
Eva Dou of the Wall Street Journal tweeted that the opening speech had been upstaged by North Korea’s actions.
Xi Jinping just began his opening speech for Brics summit...which has been upstaged by North Korea nuclear test pic.twitter.com/cm2l2q4bZs
— Eva Dou (@evadou) September 3, 2017
However, Stephen McDonell of the BBC, said that the president had not mentioned the nuclear test.
China's President Xi Jinping speaking right now at the BRICS Summit. So far not a word about the #NorthKorea nuclear test. #China pic.twitter.com/L2E9NFCi7z
— Stephen McDonell (@StephenMcDonell) September 3, 2017
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South Korea calls for the "strongest possible" response
South Korea said North Korea’s defiant sixth nuclear test should be met with the “strongest possible” response, including new UN security council sanctions to “completely isolate” the country.
(URGENT) S. Korea says will consider deploying most powerful U.S. tactical weapons https://t.co/z1shiVUa5I
— Yonhap News Agency (@YonhapNews) September 3, 2017
Seoul and Washington also discussed deploying US strategic military assets to the Korean peninsula after North Korea defied international warnings and conducted its most powerful nuclear test yet on Sunday, South Korea’s national security adviser, Chung Eui-yong, said in a news briefing.
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China "strongly condemns" North Korea's nuclear test
China’s ministry of foreign affairs has just released a statement saying it “resolutely opposes” and “strongly condemns” the nuclear test, according to Xinhua, China’s official news agency.
The statement says:
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has once again conducted a nuclear test in spite of widespread opposition from the international community. The Chinese government resolutely opposes and strongly condemns it.
For those who can read Chinese, the full statement is here.
Updated
My colleague Justin McCurry in Tokyo has the full story on this morning’s news that North Korea seems to have carried out its sixth nuclear test.
Here’s some background from that article:
Sunday’s test – the first since Trump took office in January – offers more evidence that North Korea is moving perilously close to developing a nuclear warhead capable of being fitted on to an intercontinental ballistic missile [ICBM] that can strike the US mainland.
Since it conducted its first nuclear test just over a decade ago, the regime has strived to refine the bombs’ design and reliability, as well as increasing their yield.
As the US and countries in the region analysed data resulting from the quake, Japan’s government was the first to state publicly that it was confident the shockwaves came from an underground nuclear explosion in North Korea.
Top security officials from the US and South Korea have spoken following North Korea’s apparent sixth nuclear test, South Korea’s presidential office has said.
US national security adviser HR McMaster spoke with his counterpart, Chung Eui-yong in Seoul, for 20 minutes in an emergency phone call about an hour after the detonation, the office said.
This is Nicola Slawson and I’ll be continuing to update you on the latest news from North Korea throughout the morning.
Here’s the full text of the statement from North Korea on its hydrogen bomb test, which Jonathan Cheng of the Wall Street Journal has posted on Twitter:
Full statement from N. Korea on today's nuclear test. pic.twitter.com/mVciIpBgib
— Jonathan Cheng (@JChengWSJ) September 3, 2017
Updated
What we know so far:
Melissa Davey signing off from Melbourne and handing this live blog over to my UK colleague Nicola Slawson. Thanks for following the latest developments with us – here’s what we know so far:
- North Korea claims to have successfully carried out a hydrogen bomb test.
- According to South Korean authorities, the test was about 11 times stronger than North Korea’s test in January last year and up to six times stronger than its test last September.
- During a broadcast on North Korea’s state news agency KNCA, Pyongyang claims it is close to developing a nuclear warhead capable of being fitted on to an intercontinental ballistic missile.
- South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff say they detected a seismic wave from 12.34-12.36pm around Punggyeri, North Korea, while China’s Earthquake Administration said it detected a 6.3-magnitude earthquake in North Korea that was a “suspected explosion”.
- A second quake in North Korea of magnitude 4.6 suspected to be a second explosion was more likely to be a structural collapse, news reports say, likely caused by the first explosion.
More to come ...
Updated
It sounds like the second tremor reported, initially thought to be another nuclear test, was a structural collapse in the aftermath of the first explosion,possibly a tunnel collapse, reports say.
USGS on 2nd quake: “significantly smaller event is likely a secondary feature (possibly a structural collapse) associated with larger event" https://t.co/8efWEtp5cO
— Will Ripley (@willripleyCNN) September 3, 2017
Updated
North Korea claims successful test of H-bomb
North Korea has said it successfully conducted a test of a hydrogen bomb that can be loaded on to a intercontinental ballistic missile, Yonhap News in South Korea reports.
North Korea’s state-run TV broadcaster said that Pyongyang carried out the sixth nuclear test in a special announcement hours after an artificial earthquake was detected near its nuclear test site.
An artificial earthquake with a 5.7 magnitude was detected at 12:29pm near North Korea’s nuclear site in the north-eastern area.
Updated
The Guardian’s Tokyo correspondent, Justin McCurry, has written a wrap of the latest developments in North Korea:
North Korea has carried out a nuclear test in a direct challenge to Donald Trump, hours after it released images of what it claimed was a hydrogen bomb that will be loaded on to a new intercontinental ballistic missile.
The regime confirmed it had conducted its sixth underground test, which was heralded by a magnitude 6.3 magnitude earthquake felt in Yanji, China, about 10km from North Korea’s Punggye-ri nuclear test site in the country’s north-east, according to South Korea’s meteorological agency.
The shockwaves were at least 10 times as powerful as the last time Pyongyang exploded an atomic bomb a year ago, Japan’s meteorological agency said. The previous nuclear blast in North Korea is estimated by experts to have been about 10 kilotons.
Sunday’s test – the first since Donald Trump took office in January – offers more evidence that North Korea is moving perilously close to developing a nuclear warhead capable of being fitted on to an intercontinental ballistic missile that can strike the US mainland.
You can read McCurry’s full report here.
Updated
North Korea claims in TV announcement to have conducted a hydrogen bomb test
North Korea make announcement on state television. #NorthKorea #7News https://t.co/C8YY3ChwJP
— 7 News Sydney (@7NewsSydney) September 3, 2017
#BREAKING: North Korea claims to have conducted a successful hydrogen bomb test pic.twitter.com/agRbK8tSkH
— Amichai Stein (@AmichaiStein1) September 3, 2017
BREAKING: North Korea says it has successfully conducted a hydrogen bomb test
— Fox News (@FoxNews) September 3, 2017
Updated
According to South Korean news agency Yonhap:
(URGENT) North Korea says it conducted H-bomb test https://t.co/aupvGBBoJj
— Yonhap News Agency (@YonhapNews) September 3, 2017
South Korea has contradicted a news report that there was a second earthquake near North Korea’s nuclear test site, according to AP News. The Korea Meteorological Administration said it had not detected another quake.
South Korea’s Yonhap news service reported a second earthquake had happened eight minutes after the first, citing China’s earthquake agency.
Tremors caused by the suspected nuclear test were at least 10 times as powerful as the last time Pyongyang exploded an atomic bomb a year ago, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said on Sunday. The previous nuclear blast in North Korea is estimated by experts to have been about 10 kilotons.
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The US president has postured and threatened while Kim Jong-un has simply ploughed on building a nuclear warhead and a missile that can carry it, writes John Delury, a North Korea expert at Yonsei University in Seoul:
The test does not fundamentally change the situation on the Korean peninsula, thought it is another acceleration. What is still missing is diplomacy. It is up to the Trump administration whether they want to flip this into an opportunity to belatedly start talking directly to Pyongyang, or just continue down the beaten track of shows of force, more UN sanctions, and secondary sanctions. More of the same stuff that has been done for the last eight years.
Read Delury’s full analysis for the Guardian here.
Updated
Latest test has yield of up to 100 kilotons
South Korean news agency Yonhap News has just filed this report:
North Korea’s apparent sixth nuclear test was estimated to have a yield of up to 100 kilotons, about four to five times stronger than the nuclear bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan in 1945, the chief of the parliament’s defence committee said on Sunday.
Citing a report from the military authorities, Kim Young-woo said that the explosive power of the apparent nuke tested Sunday appeared to be much stronger than the North’s fifth one, estimated to have a yield of 10 kilotons. One kiloton is equivalent to 1,000 tons of TNT.
“(The North’s latest test) is estimated to have a yield of up to 100 kilotons, though it is a provisional report,” Kim of the minor opposition Bareun party told Yonhap News Agency over the phone. “The test will be a very crucial political and strategic inflexion point.”
Kim also pointed out the need for the Moon Jae-in administration to make a decision over whether to stick to its peace initiative that seeks to re-engage with the belligerent state through both sanctions and dialogue.Earlier in the day, the South’s weather agency detected a magnitude 5.7 earthquake from the North’s Pyunggye-ri nuclear test site in a sign of another strategic provocation. South Korean intelligence authorities have said that Pyongyang appears ready for another nuke test.
Pyongyang carried out nuke experiments in 2006, 2009, 2013 and 2016.
Updated
(URGENT) North Korean artificial quake 9.8 times more powerful than fifth nuclear test: Seoul weather agency https://t.co/RlelVLhVTv
— Yonhap News Agency (@YonhapNews) September 3, 2017
Veteran foreign correspondent and North Korea expert Jean Lee is well worth following on Twitter for updates.
Had presumed that #China was leaning heavily on #NorthKorea to refrain from #nuclear test. Apparently not even Beijing has Pyongyang’s ear.
— Jean H. Lee (@newsjean) September 3, 2017
Update from North Korea expected in less than an hour
According to the Guardian’s Tokyo correspondent, Justin McCurry, an update from North Korea is expected in less than an hour.
North Korea will make an announcement later on Sunday, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency. The regime is set to make a “special and important” announcement at 3pm Pyongyang time, the North’s state-run TV broadcaster said, but did not provide further details.
Updated
Wang Zhen from the Guardian’s Beijing bureau has been speaking to people near the border.
“I was having lunch in a restaurant when the lights just started shaking,” Zhang Zhiyuan, a journalist for the Chinese newspaper Yanji News, who lives and works near China’s border with North Korea, told Zhen.
“People here have all run outside of their apartments.”
Updated
John Delury is an associate professor of chinese studies and North Korea expert at Yonsei University in Seoul in South Korea. He says the sixth nuclear test was “widely expected”.
6th nuke test is no surprise. Widely expected. McMaster & Pompeo both brought it up in their Sunday news shows few weeks back.
— John Delury (@JohnDelury) September 3, 2017
In fact, he predicted as such one day ago:
North Korea just stated that it is in the final stages of developing an ICBM-ready H-bomb. Sixth nuclear test will probably happen!
— John Delury (@JohnDelury) September 2, 2017
Updated
What we know so far
- An earthquake of magnitude 5.6 was recorded inside North Korea, hours after the regime boasted it had built a new, more advanced nuclear warhead.
- South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff say they detected a seismic wave from 12.34-12.36pm around Punggyeri, North Korea.
- South Korea’s Yonhap news agency quotes military officials as saying they believe North Korea has conducted its sixth nuclear test.
- China’s Earthquake Administration said it detected a 6.3-magnitude earthquake in North Korea that was a “suspected explosion”.
- The same body said it detected another quake in North Korea of magnitude 4.6, which it termed as a “collapse”.
- A statement from the administration’s said the second quake, measured at a depth of zero kilometres, came eight minutes after the first quake, which it said was a “suspected explosion”.
- Witnesses in the Chinese city of Yanji, on the border with North Korea, said they felt a tremor that lasted roughly 10 seconds, followed by an aftershock.
- Japan’s prime minister, Shinzō Abe, says “If North Korea has indeed gone ahead with a nuclear test, it is completely unacceptable and we must lodge a strong protest.”
- The Japanese government shortly after determines that North Korea has conducted its sixth nuclear test, the country’s foreign minister, Taro Kono said.
Updated
Japan confirms nuclear test
The Japanese government has determined North Korea on Sunday conducted its sixth nuclear test, the country’s foreign minister, Taro Kono said, according to Kyodo news.
Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono: Gov’t has concluded North Korea conducted a nuclear test
— Akiko Fujita (@AkikoFujita) September 3, 2017
North Korea's nuclear tests have never posed a radiation risk to Japan before. If cave in, watch wind patterns. https://t.co/2VchJCzvLB
— Melissa Hanham (@mhanham) September 3, 2017
Updated
At a doorstop in Sydney, Australia, the deputy Labor leader, Tanya Plibersek, has called conflict on the Korean peninsula “the greatest threat to peace and stability in our region”.
“It is absolutely vital that we continue to see pressure from the international community to support peace and de-escalation of conflict on the Korean peninsula. Right across our region governments have been watching North Korea’s actions with a great deal of concern and trepidation.”
Asked about North Korea’s claim it is capable of fitting a hydrogen bomb to an intercontinental ballistic missile, Plibersek said it was “very difficult to know how much of the North Korean regime’s propaganda is true” and said that reports differed on the likelihood of that claim being true.
“What we know for certain is that the North Korean regime is behaving irresponsibly, aggressively and in a way that threatens peace and security in our region ... [and] that the people most likely to influence with the North Korean regime is China and we continue to urge China to do all it can to urge the North Korean regime to stand down.”
For those just joining us, it appears North Korea has just launched its biggest nuclear test to date at a test site in the north-east of the country. The suspected test comes hours after leader Kim Jong-un said his country had developed an advanced hydrogen bomb. The Guardian has just posted this backgrounder on how we got to this point:
Updated
Shinzō Abe, the prime minister of Japan, is responding to news of the suspected test
#BREAKING A North Korea nuclear test would be 'absolutely unacceptable', says Japan PM Abe
— AFP news agency (@AFP) September 3, 2017
Japan’s government said it would lodge a “strong protest” if the nuclear test was confirmed. “If North Korea has indeed gone ahead with a nuclear test, it is completely unacceptable and we must lodge a strong protest,” Abe told reporters on Sunday.
The US president, Donald Trump, had just spoken with Abe on Saturday. According to a statement from the White House: “The two leaders reaffirmed the importance of close cooperation between the United States, Japan, and South Korea in the face of the growing threat from North Korea”.
Updated
North Korea earthquake points to largest nuclear test
Unusual #Seismic signal larger than prior declared tests #DPRK. Auto-Detection by 34 #IMS stations so far: Work in progress #CTBT Analysts.
— Lassina Zerbo (@SinaZerbo) September 3, 2017
Updated
Here’s where the explosion occurred, based on information from the United States Geological Survey:
NK locator map
Japan has an aircraft up collecting air samples, monitoring radiation, reports NHK
— Martyn Williams (@martyn_williams) September 3, 2017
Reuters has filed this take on the latest developments:
A shallow, 6.3-magnitude earthquake shook North Korea on Sunday, suggesting it had detonated a sixth nuclear device, hours after it said it had developed an advanced hydrogen bomb that possesses “great destructive power”.
The earthquake struck 75 km (45 miles) north/north-west of Kimchaek. Previous recent tremors in the region have been caused by nuclear tests, which if the case this time round, is bound to increase the tension hours after US president Donald Trump and Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe talked by phone about the “escalating” nuclear crisis.
The quake was only 10 km deep, the US Geological Survey said, again suggesting a nuclear device.
Eight minutes later, China’s Earthquake Administration said it has detected another quake in North Korea of magnitude 4.6, which it termed as a “collapse” and a “suspected explosion”.
The coordinates of the two quakes were almost identical, according to figures provided by the administration.
Witnesses in the Chinese city of Yanji, on the border with North Korea, said they felt a tremor that lasted roughly 10 seconds, followed by an aftershock.
The hydrogen bomb report by North Korea’s official KCNA news agency comes amid heightened regional tension following Pyongyang’s two tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) in July that potentially could fly about 10,000km (6,200 miles), putting many parts of the mainland United States within range. Under third-generation leader Kim Jong-un, North Korea has been pursuing a nuclear device small and light enough to fit on a long-range ballistic missile, without affecting its range and making it capable of surviving re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere.
North Korea, which carries out its nuclear and missile programmes in defiance of UN security council resolutions and sanctions, “recently succeeded” in making a more advanced hydrogen bomb that will be loaded on to an ICBM, KCNA said.
“The H-bomb, the explosive power of which is adjustable from tens kiloton to hundreds kiloton, is a multi-functional thermonuclear nuke with great destructive power which can be detonated even at high altitudes for super-powerful EMP (electromagnetic pulse) attack according to strategic goals,” KCNA said.
“All components of the H-bomb were homemade and all the processes ... were put on the Juche basis, thus enabling the country to produce powerful nuclear weapons as many as it wants,” KCNA quoted Kim as saying.
Juche is North Korea’s homegrown ideology of self-reliance that is a mix of Marxism and extreme nationalism preached by state founder Kim Il Sung, the current leader’s grandfather. It says its weapons programmes are needed to counter US aggression.
North Korea offered no evidence for its latest claim, and Kim Dong-yub, a military expert at Kyungnam University*s Institute of Far Eastern Studies in Seoul, was sceptical.
“Referring to tens to hundreds of kilotons, it doesn*t appear to be talking about a fully fledged H-bomb. It’s more likely a boosted nuclear device,” Kim said, referring to an atomic bomb which uses some hydrogen isotopes to boost explosive yield.
A hydrogen bomb can achieve thousands of kilotons of explosive yield – massively more powerful than some 10 to 15 kilotons that North Korea*s last nuclear test in September was estimated to have produced, similar to the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945.
Updated
Second quake reported
According to Reuters in China, China’s Earthquake Administration said it has detected another quake in North Korea of magnitude 4.6, which it termed as a “collapse”.
A statement on the administration’s website said the second quake, measured at a depth of zero kilometres, came eight minutes after the first quake, which it said was a “suspected explosion”.
The coordinates of the two quakes were almost identical, according to figures provided by the administration.
China’s Earthquake Administration said on Sunday it detected a 6.3 magnitude earthquake in North Korea that was a “suspected explosion”. The administration said in a statement on its website that the quake, which occurred around 11:30 a.m. (0330 GMT), was recorded at a depth of zero kilometres.
South Korea’s Yonhap news agency is quoting military officials as saying they believe North Korea has conducted its sixth nuclear test.
USGS updates the magnitude to 6.3
M 6.3 Explosion – 24km ENE of Sungjibaegam, North Korea – Possible explosion, located near the site where North Korea has detonated nuclear explosions in the past. If this event was an explosion, the USGS National Earthquake Information Center cannot determine its type, whether nuclear or any other possible type
Wow -- "6.3 is a megaton." USGS saying this was a 6.3. That would be the level of a hugely powerful H-bomb. https://t.co/pVAuBApVv7
— Steve Lookner (@lookner) September 3, 2017
Updated
South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff say a magnitude-5.6 quake in North Korea was artificial and it’s analyzing whether the North conducted a nuclear test.
It says it detected a seismic wave from 12:34-12:36pm around Punggyeri, North Korea.
The quake came just hours after North Korea claimed that its leader has inspected the loading of a hydrogen bomb into a new intercontinental ballistic missile.
Updated
An update from the US Geological Survey:
Possible explosion, located near the site where North Korea has detonated nuclear explosions in the past. If this event was an explosion, the USGS National Earthquake Information Center cannot determine its type, whether nuclear or any other possible type.
Magnitude-5.2 #earthquake in far northeastern #NorthKorea, according to @USGS. These quakes usually are underground #nuclear tests. pic.twitter.com/qnqmk1ESxN
— Jean H. Lee (@newsjean) September 3, 2017
Updated
Earthquake suspected to be caused by nuclear test
An earthquake of magnitude 5.6 has been recorded inside North Korea, hours after the regime boasted it had built a new, more advanced nuclear warhead.
The epicentre of the quake was considered shallow at 10km underground, according to the US Geological Survey.
Previous similar earthquakes in North Korea have come from nuclear tests, which the country conducts underground.
No official confirmation has come, but the situation is obviously tense with recent North Korean missile tests and heated exchanges with Donald Trump and neighbours Japan and South Korea.
We will have more updates as they become available.
Updated
