The Latest on the nuclear test North Korea conducted Sunday – its sixth and largest so far (all times local) :
TOKYO (AP) – The Latest on the nuclear test North Korea conducted Sunday – its sixth and largest so far (all times local) :
4: 35 a.m.
U. S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is responding to North Korea’s latest nuclear test by saying threats to the United States and its allies “will be met with a massive military response.”
Mattis spoke at the White House on Sunday following a meeting with President Donald Trump and national security advisers. He says any response will be “both effective and overwhelming.”
Mattis says the United States is “not looking to the total annihilation” of North Korea, but added “we have many options to do so.”
North Korea claimed “perfect success” in an underground test of what it called a hydrogen bomb – potentially vastly more destructive than an atomic bomb. It was the North’s sixth nuclear test since 2006, but the first since Trump took office in January.
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2: 30 a.m.
The president of the European Commission says North Korea’s latest nuclear test compels the international community to unite in swift and decisive reaction.
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.
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2: 20 a.m.
Turkey has strongly condemned the latest North Korean nuclear test.
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.
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1: 35 a.m.
President Donald Trump says the United States is considering halting trade with “any country doing business with North Korea.”
Trump said on Twitter Sunday that the approach was under consideration, “in addition to other options, ” after North Korea detonated a thermonuclear device in its sixth and most powerful nuclear test.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Sunday that he was putting together new sanctions seeking to cut off trade with North Korea. On “Fox News Sunday, ” Mnuchin described Pyongyang’s behavior as “completely unacceptable.”
Trump is meeting with his national security team Sunday afternoon to discuss North Korea.
The president was asked if he would attack North Korea as he left a church service Sunday. He said: “We’ll see.”
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1: 30 a.m.
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.
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.”
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1: 10 a.m.
North Korea has claimed a “perfect success” for its most powerful nuclear test so far, a further step in the development of weapons capable of striking anywhere in the United States.
U. S. President Donald Trump, asked if he would attack the North, said, “We’ll see.”
The president was meeting later Sunday with his national security team. North Korea’s nuclear test was the first since Trump took office in January.
In a series of tweets, Trump said the latest provocation from the isolated communist country reinforces the danger facing America. He said “talk of appeasement” is pointless because “They only understand one thing!”
After attending church in Washington, the president made his “We’ll see” comment in response to a question from reporters.
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12: 55 a.m.
India, Pakistan and the Philippines are among many Asian nations condemning North Korea’s nuclear test.
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.”
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12: 50 a.m.
A member of the Senate Intelligence Committee is describing North Korea’s leader as “both spoiled and reckless.”
Sen. Roy Blunt says those traits he’s attributing to Kim Jong Un aren’t “a unique thing to find in the world today.” But the Missouri Republican says “it is unique with somebody who has control of what may now be hydrogen weapons as well as nuclear weapons.”
North Korea says it’s detonated what it’s describing as a hydrogen bomb – in its sixth and most powerful nuclear test to date.
President Donald Trump is meeting later Sunday with his national security team to discuss North Korea.
Blunt tells NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he thinks “the president putting everything on the table is not a bad thing right now.”
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12: 10 a.m.
North Korea’s neighbors are looking for radiation from its nuclear test, but they might not find any.
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.
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12: 09 a.m.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin have discussed North Korea’s nuclear test in a meeting on the sidelines of a Beijing-led summit of five large emerging economies.
The official Xinhua News Agency said Sunday the two leaders “unanimously agreed to adhere to the goal of the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, have close communication and coordination and properly respond” to Sunday’s test.
North Korea detonated what it called a hydrogen bomb. It was its sixth and most powerful nuclear test to date.
The blast could overshadow the summit of BRICS nations – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. It’s being held Monday and Tuesday in the southeastern Chinese city of Xiamen.
Xi gave a speech to business representatives of the five countries on Sunday without mentioning the test.
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12: 07 a.m.
Finland has strongly condemned North Korea’s nuclear test, saying it continues that country’s “series of grave violations of international obligations, which have become more common during this year.”
Describing the test as “a very dangerous and irresponsible act that will further aggravate the situation, ” Foreign Minister Timo Soini said Sunday that claims the test was the strongest conducted by North Korea so far and that according to its own statement was a hydrogen bomb “are particularly alarming.”
In neighboring Sweden, Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom tweeted that the test was “a turn for the worse. Further endangers international peace, stability. UNSC role important, ” while Norway’s foreign minister, Borge Brende, said North Korea’s action was “totally unacceptable” and urged the international community to react.
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12: 05 a.m.
British Prime Minister Theresa May has said the North Korean weapon test poses an “unacceptable further threat” to the international community.
May said in a statement Sunday that the international community must come together to increase the pressure on North Korea.
She said tougher action is needed, including speeding up the implementation of sanctions.
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12 a.m.
The head of the U. N. test ban treaty organization says the sanctions against North Korea over its nuclear weapons program aren’t working.
Lassina Zerbo, who heads the Vienna-based Comprehensive Test Ban Organization, also notes that while North Korea previously announced its nuclear tests in advance, now the announcements are coming hours after the test.
Zerbo said that international sanctions seem not to be stopping the North “from going beyond the acceptable in terms of their nuclear weapons program.”
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11: 40 p.m.
Sen. Ted Cruz says North Korea’s nuclear test calls for serious steps to prevent it from using those weapons, including economic sanctions.
Speaking Sunday on ABC’s “This Week, ” Cruz said the U. S. should “use economic leverage to go against not only North Korea but every financial institution, every company that does business with North Korea.” He said most of them rely on the U. S. financial system, “so cutting off their money is another critical part” to putting pressure on Pyongyang.
The Texas Republican, a member of the Armed Services Committee, also called for enhancing missile defense to give the U. S. the capability to destroy an ICBM fired from North Korea.
He said President Donald Trump was right to talk tough with the North Korean leader, who he said only understands and respects strength.
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11 p.m.
U. S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says he is putting together new sanctions seeking to cut off trade with North Korea after it detonated a thermonuclear device in its sixth and most powerful nuclear test.
Speaking on “Fox News Sunday, ” Mnuchin described Pyongyang’s behavior as “completely unacceptable.”
Mnuchin says the sanctions package being drafted for President Donald Trump’s consideration will make clear that if countries want to do business with the U. S., they will have to cut off North Korea economically.
