North Korea says conducts hydrogen bomb test, Trump to meet with advisers

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-nuclear/north-korea-says-conducts-hydrogen-bomb-test-trump-to-meet-with-advisers-idUSKCN1BD0VW

Jack Kim, Soyoung Kim

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear test on Sunday, which it said was an advanced hydrogen bomb for a long-range missile, marking a dramatic escalation of the regime’s stand-off with the United States and its allies.

The test drew swift international condemnation, including from U.S. President Donald Trump, who described North Korea as a “rogue nation” and said its actions “continue to be very hostile and dangerous to the United States”.

Trump also appeared to rebuke ally South Korea, which faces an existential threat from North Korea’s nuclear program.

“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 said in an early morning tweet.

The White House said Trump would convene a meeting of his advisers later on Sunday.

(For a graphic on nuclear North Korea, click tmsnrt.rs/2lE5yjF)

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin, who met on the sidelines of a BRICS summit in China, agree to “appropriately deal” with the North Korean nuclear test, the Xinhua news agency reported.

Hours before the test, Trump had talked by phone with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe about the “escalating” nuclear crisis in the region.

The U.S. president has previously vowed to stop North Korea developing nuclear weapons and said he would unleash “fire and fury” on the regime if it threatened U.S. territory.

Last week Trump said the time for talking was over, although he was later contradicted by his defense secretary, James Mattis, who said the United States had not exhausted all diplomatic options.

Trump’s tweet on Sunday, however, again suggested that he favors a non-diplomatic solution. The big question now is whether advisers like Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson can persuade him not to be too hasty in ruling out diplomacy.

North Korea, which carries out its nuclear and missile programs in defiance of United Nations Security Council resolutions and sanctions, said on state television that the hydrogen bomb test ordered by leader Kim Jong Un had been a “perfect success”.

The bomb was designed to be mounted on its newly developed intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), the North said.