South Korea says it wants to respond to North Korea's sixth nuclear test with as hard as possible.
South Korean National Security Agency director Chung Eui-yong said Sunday that President Moon Jae-in will seek every available diplomatic step, including new UN Security Council sanctions. He also said Moon would discuss with Washington the means of deploying the "most powerful US staretegis assets" to isolate Pyongyang completely. The president's office does not explain what constitutes "the most powerful strategic assets".
The Seoul response came following the inauguration that North Korea on Sunday successfully tested a hydrogen bomb that could be placed on an inter-continental ballistic missile.
An announcement by KCNA, the North Korean government news agency, cites the success of developing this hydrogen bomb according to the Korean Workers Party's plan to build a strategic nuclear power.
"The test of hydrogen bombs designed to be placed on our intercontinental ballistic missile was a perfect success," said KCNA newscaster Ri Chun Hee, who has retired in 2012, but sometimes appears in major events.
Ri also claimed no radiation from the nuclear explosion was released into the atmosphere - something that is currently trying to verify US and Japanese aircraft equipped with special atmospheric surveillance devices.
According to a number of seismologists, the nuclear explosion resulted in two light earthquakes detected in the Punggye-ri area, where North Korea's nuclear facilities are located. Authorities in Japan and South Korea, as well as a number of experts in the US, confirmed, the quakes were due to nuclear tests.
Experts say the first magnitude 6.3-magnitude quake could have been generated by the explosion of one megaton of hydrogen bomb. The explosion was at least 10 times stronger than the previous nuclear test, which took place September 9, 2016 and resulted in an earthquake of 5.3 on the Richter scale.
The Trump President's government warned North Korea that the threat to the United States or its allies would be faced with an "exceptional" military response.
The White House VOA Correspondent Peter Heinlein reported comments by three Trump government officials delivered after Pyongyang's latest underground nuclear test. Meanwhile, the UN Security Council held emergency talks on North Korea today, the second meeting of the week.
After briefing President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence at the White House, Defense Minister James Mattis delivered a strong message to North Korea about North Korea's provocative actions.
"We do not intend to completely destroy a country like North Korea, but as I said, we have such options," Mattis said.
President Donald Trump, via twitter, called Pyongyang's latest "hostile and dangerous" action. He said that he was considering an economic boycott of a country that does business with North Korea, and Finance Minister Steve Mnuchin said he was preparing for a new round of sanctions.
The UN Security Council also held an emergency meeting on North Korea on Monday (4/9). Monday's emergency talks were held amid reports that Pyongyang is preparing to test another ballistic missile.
"The time has come to consider all our diplomatic means before it is too late, we must now take the most powerful measures," US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley told the council.
He said North Korean leader Kim Jong Un "wanted the war" with his actions. "America does not want war but our patience is not unlimited," Haley said.
Earlier, South Korea's defense ministry said it was aware of signs North Korea was preparing to test ballistic missiles. The ministry also announced plans to immediately install four more launchers for the THAAD missile defense system.
North Korea conducted its sixth nuclear test on Sunday, described as a successful thermonuclear hydrogen bomb and can be mounted on intercontinental missiles or ICBMs.
An American intelligence official said there was no reason to doubt North Korea's claim that a nuclear device that was detonated on an underground Sunday was 10 times stronger than a nuclear test a year ago.
"We strongly believe this is a sophisticated test of nuclear tools and what we have seen so far matches North Korean claims," the intelligence official said. [