The Latest on President Donald Trump and North Korea (all times EDT) :<\/b>
\nWASHINGTON (AP) – The Latest on President Donald Trump and North Korea (all times EDT) :
10 p.m.
South Korea’s military says North Korea will face a \u00ab\u00a0stern and strong\u00a0\u00bb response from Washington and Seoul if it acts on threats to fire missiles near Guam.
Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesman Roh Jae-cheon said Thursday that the U. S. and South Korean militaries are prepared to \u00ab\u00a0immediately and sternly punish\u00a0\u00bb any kind of provocation by North Korea, but didn’t elaborate on how the allies are preparing.
South Korea’s presidential office says top national security adviser Chung Eui-yong will chair a national security council meeting in the afternoon to discuss the North Korean threats.
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6: 10 p.m.
North Korea’s military says President Donald Trump’s warning of \u00ab\u00a0fire and fury\u00a0\u00bb if it threatens the U. S. is a \u00ab\u00a0load of nonsense.\u00a0\u00bb
The North is responding to Trump’s threat in a statement from its military carried by state-run news agency KCNA. The statement says that \u00ab\u00a0only absolute force\u00a0\u00bb can work on someone as \u00ab\u00a0bereft of reason\u00a0\u00bb as Trump.
The North Korean statement also says the military action its army \u00ab\u00a0is about to take\u00a0\u00bb will be effective for restraining America’s \u00ab\u00a0frantic moves\u00a0\u00bb in and near the southern part of the Korean Peninsula.
It says North Korea will complete a plan by mid-August for the \u00ab\u00a0historic enveloping fire at Guam, \u00a0\u00bb convey it to the commander in chief of its nuclear force and then \u00ab\u00a0wait for his order.\u00a0\u00bb North Korea says it will \u00ab\u00a0keep closely watching the speech and behavior of the U. S.\u00a0\u00bb
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2: 50 p.m.
The State Department says President Donald Trump is \u00ab\u00a0on the same page\u00a0\u00bb with the rest of U. S. government with his fiery threat to North Korea.
State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert says the White House, State Department and Pentagon are all in agreement. She says the world, too, is speaking with once voice.
Nauert says the pressure by the U. S. and others on Pyongyang \u00ab\u00a0is working.\u00a0\u00bb
Nauert says Secretary of State Rex Tillerson spoke to Trump for about an hour after Trump warned Tuesday of \u00ab\u00a0fire and fury\u00a0\u00bb if North Korea escalated its threats.
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2: 11 p.m.
The U. S. ambassador to the U. N.’s Conference on Disarmament says he urged North Korea to \u00ab\u00a0end its threatening behavior, \u00a0\u00bb drawing a retort from an envoy from the reclusive Asian country.
Ambassador Robert Wood tweeted Wednesday that North Korean \u00ab\u00a0provocations came up at CD informal session\u00a0\u00bb and that he urged Pyongyang to comply with U. N. Security Council demands.
The 65-member conference is currently holding working-group meetings behind closed doors, with no press allowed. Diplomats said statements about North Korea made up a small portion of the meeting devoted to broader disarmament issues.
South Korea’s delegation declined to provide its statement to The Associated Press, saying the meeting was not public. North Korea didn’t immediately respond to an e-mail seeking its right-of-reply statement by its representative, Yong Chol Ju.
-Jamey Keaten in Geneva.
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1: 58 p.m.
Russia’s U. N. ambassador says President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un should \u00ab\u00a0start a dialogue.\u00a0\u00bb
Vassily Nebenzia said Russia noted Trump’s vow to respond to North Korean threats with \u00ab\u00a0fire and fury.\u00a0\u00bb He told reporters \u00ab\u00a0our strong wish is that the United States keeps calm and refrains from any moves that would provoke another party to actions that might be dangerous.\u00a0\u00bb
He said Russia is \u00ab\u00a0ready to do whatever we can to promote dialogue, and through our embassy we are in contact with North Korean authorities.\u00a0\u00bb
But Nebenzia said at U. N. headquarters in New York that \u00ab\u00a0tensions are too high at the moment\u00a0\u00bb and \u00ab\u00a0we should give it a few days to calm down hopefully.\u00a0\u00bb
Nebenzia said Russia backs China’s proposed suspension-for-suspension, which would see North Korea halt nuclear and ballistic missile activities and the U. S. and South Korean halt military exercises. He says this offers \u00ab\u00a0a way out\u00a0\u00bb of the current situation.
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12: 50 p.m.
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is issuing his own sharp threat to North Korea, saying the regime should cease any consideration of actions that would \u00ab\u00a0lead to the end of its regime and the destruction of its people.\u00a0\u00bb
Mattis says any action by North Korea would be grossly overmatched by the U. S., and that Pyongyang would lose any arms race or conflict it started. He says that while the U. S. is pursuing diplomatic solutions, the combined military power of America and its allies is the most robust on Earth.
Mattis issued a statement as he traveled to the West Coast. His comments punctuate President Donald Trump’s warning that North Korea will be met with \u00ab\u00a0fire and fury\u00a0\u00bb if it threatens the U. S.
A new report says Pyongyang’s nuclear program is progressing.
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12: 15 p.m.
France is urging all sides \u00ab\u00a0to act responsibly and to de-escalate\u00a0\u00bb tensions over North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.
French government spokesman Christophe Castaner says Paris is \u00ab\u00a0watching what’s going on with concern\u00a0\u00bb and \u00ab\u00a0is ready to put all its means at disposal so we can find a peaceful solution.\u00a0\u00bb
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11: 55 a.m.
Bolivia is currently a U. N. Security Council member, and its ambassador says the escalating rhetoric between the United State and North Korea is \u00ab\u00a0really detrimental\u00a0\u00bb to the world body’s goal of maintaining global peace and security.
Ambassador Sacha Llorentty Soliz \u00ab\u00a0firmly\u00a0\u00bb believes there’s no military solution to the North Korean nuclear issue.
The Bolivian envoy tells reporters the rhetoric \u00ab\u00a0goes against the spirit\u00a0\u00bb of the latest U. N. sanctions resolution. In addition to imposing new economic penalties, that resolution calls for the quick resumption of international talks on the North’s nuclear program.
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11: 18 a.m.
Britain’s U. N. ambassador says the United Kingdom \u00ab\u00a0stands shoulder to shoulder with the United States\u00a0\u00bb in tackling the nuclear threat from North Korea and making sure it can’t pursue its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
Matthew Rycroft told reporters at U. N. headquarters in New York on Wednesday that the U. S. and U. K. have been very clear in demanding a halt to North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs. He said Kim Jong Un’s regime should listen to and \u00ab\u00a0act on that clarity.\u00a0\u00bb
Rycroft stressed that North Korea \u00ab\u00a0holds the key to sanctions being removed.\u00a0\u00bb
Asked whether President Donald Trump’s escalating rhetoric was hurting prospects for reviving negotiations, Rycroft said \u00ab\u00a0what’s hurting the six-party talks is the inability so far of the North Korean regime to do what it has to do which is to halt its nuclear program and to halt its intercontinental ballistic missile program.\u00a0\u00bb
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8: 45 a.m.
North Korean authorities have organized a giant rally Wednesday as a show of support for their rejection of the latest round of U. N. sanctions.
Tens of thousands of people packed Kim Il Sung Square in downtown Pyongyang for the event, which followed a familiar format of speeches from a balcony, with the crowd listening below, standing in organized rows interspersed with placards and slogans.
Kim Ki Nam, member of the Political Bureau and vice chairman of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, told the crowd that \u00ab\u00a0the U. S. and its allies have fabricated a sanctions resolution again, taking over the United Nations while picking on our ICBM test launch.\u00a0\u00bb
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8: 20 a.m.
President Donald Trump is stressing the United States’ nuclear capabilities, saying \u00ab\u00a0there will never be a time that we are not the most powerful nation in the world!\u00a0\u00bb But he added: \u00ab\u00a0Hopefully we will never have to use this power.\u00a0\u00bb
On Twitter Wednesday, Trump said he had pushed to \u00ab\u00a0renovate and modernize our nuclear arsenal.\u00a0\u00bb He then added: \u00ab\u00a0Hopefully we will never have to use this power, but there will never be a time that we are not the most powerful nation in the world!\u00a0\u00bb
The comments come as Trump and North Korea traded escalating threats. Trump’s heated rhetoric comes as his secretary of state seeks to downplay the words.
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8: 10 a.m.
President Donald Trump says the United States’ nuclear arsenal is \u00ab\u00a0far stronger and more powerful than ever before.\u00a0\u00bb
Trump tweeted Wednesday: \u00ab\u00a0My first order as President was to renovate and modernize our nuclear arsenal. It is now far stronger and more powerful than ever before….\u00a0\u00bb
The tweet came as Trump traded escalating threats with North Korea. Trump on Tuesday threatened \u00ab\u00a0fire and fury\u00a0\u00bb if North Korea made more threats to the U. S. And North Korea’s military said it was examining plans for attacking Guam.
Trump retweeted news coverage about his heated rhetoric Wednesday.
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7: 55 a.m.
A Republican who’s a leading voice on defense issues says President Donald Trump has \u00ab\u00a0basically drawn a red line\u00a0\u00bb with his strong warning on North Korea.
The North is threatening the United States with the prospect of a nuclear-armed long-range missile, and Sen. Lindsey Graham says Trump isn’t going to just \u00ab\u00a0contain the threat. He’s going to stop the threat.\u00a0\u00bb
The South Carolina lawmaker – a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee – tells CBS’ \u00ab\u00a0This Morning\u00a0\u00bb that war would be \u00ab\u00a0horrific\u00a0\u00bb and he believes \u00ab\u00a0we’re headed that way unless the world can stop North Korea.\u00a0\u00bb
In Graham’s opinion, \u00ab\u00a0the time for talking is running out.\u00a0\u00bb
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7: 50 a.m.
President Donald Trump is retweeting news coverage about his heated rhetoric against North Korea, even as his secretary of state is downplaying Trump’s words.
On Wednesday morning, Trump retweeted \u00ab\u00a0Fox & Friends\u00a0\u00bb tweets about Trump’s fiery rhetoric. One said \u00ab\u00a0Trump vows U. S. ‘power’ will meet North Korean threat.\u00a0\u00bb Another included a video clip of Trump vowing to respond to North Korean threats with \u00ab\u00a0fire and fury.\u00a0\u00bb
The president’s retweets about his rhetoric Tuesday come as Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was urging calm. Tillerson said Wednesday as he returned from an Asia trip he doesn’t believe there is \u00ab\u00a0any imminent threat.\u00a0\u00bb
Trump and North Korea have been exchanging escalating threats, with the North saying it was examining plans for attacking Guam. But Tillerson told reporters that nothing he’s seen or knows of in the last day dramatically changed the situation.
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7: 16 a.m.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says he doesn’t believe there is \u00ab\u00a0any imminent threat\u00a0\u00bb from North Korea, including to the U. S. territory of Guam.
Tillerson says that \u00ab\u00a0Americans should sleep well at night.\u00a0\u00bb He says that they should \u00ab\u00a0have no concerns about this particular rhetoric of the last few days.\u00a0\u00bb
Tillerson spoke to reporters Wednesday after President Donald Trump and North Korea traded escalating threats of \u00ab\u00a0fire, \u00a0\u00bb with the North saying it was examining plans for attacking Guam.
He downplayed speculation that the threats move the U. S. closer to a military option. Tillerson says nothing he’s seen or knows of in the last day dramatically changed the situation.
Tillerson spoke to reporters as he flew from Malaysia to Washington, stopping in Guam to refuel.
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