In detonating North Korea’s most powerful nuclear bomb yet, Kim Jong Un is betting it’s too late for either U.S. President Donald Trump or Chinese leader Xi Jinping to be able to take away his atomic arsenal.
Kim’s regime claimed on Sunday it successfully detonated a hydrogen bomb that can fit onto an intercontinental ballistic missile, advancing its quest to be able to hit the U.S. with a nuclear weapon. Earlier in the day it said it now had a bomb with a maximum force topping 100 kilotons -- more than six times the magnitude of what the U.S. detonated over Hiroshima.
Regardless of whether it was actually a hydrogen bomb, the explosion was big enough to “pretty much end an American city” if strapped on an ICBM, according to Vipin Narang, an associate professor of political science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who focuses on nuclear issues. That makes it harder for either the U.S. or China to force Kim to back down, he said.
“I had thought that maybe Kim hadn’t tested number six for the past several months because that was a red line for China,” Narang said. “But clearly he decided to blow past it.”
The failure of the U.S. and China to find a common approach has allowed Kim to accelerate his nuclear weapons program, something he says is essential to deter an American invasion. With each provocation he appears to have gained confidence that the U.S. won’t resort to military action that could unleash World War III. Equally, he’s betting China won’t cut off the sales of oil and food that keep his regime afloat.
North Korea carried out its test when both Trump and Xi had potential distractions: The U.S. president toured southern states devastated by Hurricane Harvey, while Xi is hosting leaders from Russia, India, Brazil and South Africa.
Trump did not respond immediately -- though he tweeted support for disaster relief efforts. In posts about eight hours later on Twitter he called North Korea a rogue nation whose actions were an embarrassment to neighbor and ally China.
The focus of Trump’s comments and remarks by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin were on tighter sanctions, not military action. “The United States is considering, in addition to other options, stopping all trade with any country doing business with North Korea,” Trump said on Twitter.
“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, meanwhile, has repeatedly threatened China with punitive measures if it fails to do more on North Korea. The U.S. has launched a probe of alleged Chinese intellectual property violations, and slapped sanctions on some companies based in China that the U.S. accuses of conspiring with North Korea to evade sanctions.
The U.S. must consider a different approach to North Korea as the status quo responses have “very predictable” results, according to William McKinney, a visiting scholar at the U.S.-Korea Institute of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Other options include “game-changing engagement” that reassures North Korea of its security or “kinetic military action” -- such as shooting down a missile or destroying launch sites.
The United States will launch a "massive military response" to threats from North Korea, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis said Sunday.
He spoke after President Donald Trump met with his national security advisers following a test of what Pyongyang said was a hydrogen bomb able to fit atop a missile.
"Any threat to the United States or its territories, including Guam, or our allies will be met with a massive military response, a response both effective and overwhelming," Mattis said.
He added: "Kim Jong-Un should take heed of the United Nations Security Council's unified voice. All members unanimously agreed on the threat North Korea poses and remain unanimous in their commitment to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
"We are not looking to the total annihilation of a country, namely North Korea, but as I said, we have many options to do so."
His comments came after Trump warned the time for "appeasement" was over and threatened drastic economic sanctions.
The unexpectedly powerful test Sunday was said to exceed in magnitude the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan -- the resultant shock caused momentary panic in parts of China -- and Trump slammed it as "very hostile and dangerous to the United States."
The United Nations Security Council will meet in an emergency session to discuss the latest nuclear test by North Korea, the U.S. mission to the U.N. announced Sunday.
The session, which will take place at 10 a.m. ET on Monday, was requested by U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley, along with representatives from Japan, France, the U.K., and South Korea, according to Haley’s office.
The announcement comes just hours after the rogue regime’s test of that appears to be their most powerful hydrogen bomb to date, and days after the Council condemned the launch of a missile over Japan Monday.
In that statement, passed by all 15 members, the Council accused North Korea of “deliberately undermining regional peace and stability and [having] caused grave security concerns around the world.”
Representatives pointed to the fact that the strong statement was passed so quickly as a sign of growing unity among Council members – even Russia and China, who have frequently urged dialogue and negotiation over sanction and military escalation in the face of North Korea’s aggression.
The Security Council unanimously agreed to a strong resolution in July that included the imposition of sanctions that was estimated to slash North Korea’s exports by a third. That resolution came in the wake of two intercontinental ballistic missile tests by the regime.
The U.S. has not given any indication that further sanctions are on the table, but other members, particularly Japan, have expressed openness to imposing more sanctions. One Security Council diplomat indicated that sanctions on North Korea’s oil and textiles exports, as well as the country’s use of foreign labor, could be on the table for any further resolution.
On Sunday, Secretary-General António Guterres issued a strong condemnation of the latest test by the regime, calling it “yet another serious breach of the DPRK’s international obligations [that] undermines international non-proliferation and disarmament efforts.
“The DPRK is the only country that continues to break the norm against nuclear test explosions,” Guterres noted in a statement.
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