North Korea displayed trademark defiance on Wednesday over new United Nations sanctions imposed after its sixth and largest-ever nuclear test, vowing to redouble efforts to fight off what it said was the threat of a US invasion.
Japan’s top government spokesman has called a North Korean threat to sink Japan with a nuclear bomb extremely provocative and outrageous.
South Korea says it has found a small amount of radioactive element from air samples it collected following North Korea’s latest nuclear test.
The Trump administration on Tuesday threatened to cutoff from the U.S. financial system Chinese and Russian companies helping North Korea smuggle coal overseas to circumvent international sanctions on Pyongyang’s nuclear activities.
Major U.S. allies in Asia welcomed on Tuesday the U.N. Security Council’s unanimous vote to step up sanctions on North Korea, with its profitable textile exports now banned and fuel supplies to the reclusive North capped after its sixth nuclear test.
North Korea illegally exported coal, iron and other commodities worth at least $270 million to China and other countries including India, Malaysia and Sri Lanka in the six-month period ending in early August in violation of U.N. sanctions, U.N. experts say.
British officials fear that North Korea’s sudden advancement in developing nuclear weapons may be due to secret support from Iran, The Sunday Telegraph reported over the weekend.
North Korea’s chief diplomat at the United Nations was not hiding his satisfaction with Pyongyang’s recent nuclear test, warning the U.S. that it can expect more “gift packages” to come its way.
President Trump again insisted Wednesday that the U.S. and its allies will not tolerate North Korea’s nuclear weapons tests and missile launches, discussing the crisis on the Korean peninsula with Chinese President Xi Jinping in a 45-minute phone call.
South Korean commandos will work with the US Navy Seals who killed Osama bin Laden to create a special unit to assassinate Kim Jong-un in the event of war.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in told Russian leader Vladimir Putin on Wednesday that the situation on the Korean peninsula could become unpredictable if Pyongyang did not halt its ‘provocative actions’ after its latest nuclear bomb test.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley on Tuesday said President Donald Trump would be justified if he denied Iranian compliance to the nuclear accord when it comes up for a quarterly review next month, though she said she does not know what Trump will decide.
U.S. officials are closely monitoring an ongoing meeting between senior North Korean and Iranian officials that comes on the heels of a nuclear test by Pyongyang, according to senior Trump administration officials and other sources who expressed concern that North Korea is helping to put the Islamic Republic back on the pathway to a functional nuclear weapon.
The Trump administration is pushing for a vote next week at the United Nations Security Council to punish North Korea for its nuclear test over the weekend.
The United States, Britain, France, Japan and South Korea requested the urgent meeting, to be held at 10 a.m., the US mission said in a statement.
North Korea said it set off a hydrogen bomb Sunday in its sixth nuclear test, which judging by the earthquake it set off appeared to be its most powerful explosion yet.
Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Friday that the tense standoff between North Korea and the United States was on the verge of large-scale conflict and said it was a mistake to try to pressure Pyongyang over its nuclear missile program.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has warned U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson that potential new sanctions against North Korea would be ‘dangerous.’
Amid the latest North Korean missile test that overflew Japan, U.S. intelligence agencies recently detected increased activity at the North’s main underground nuclear testing facility in the northeastern part of the country that signal preparations for a sixth underground test blast.
The United States on Thursday flew some of its most advanced warplanes to South Korea to take part in bombing drills aimed at intimidating North Korea, after Pyongyang fired a midrange ballistic missile over Japan earlier this week, South Korea’s military said.