PM, Trump in talks to solve Kim tensions

DONALD Trump and Malcolm Turnbull will today discuss measures to counter North Korea’s increasing nuclear aggression.

Confirmation of the Oval Office phone call came in a day of dramatic developments in the nuclear crisis, as Japan started planning for mass evacuations of almost 60,000 citizens in South Korea.

US President Trump yesterday offered an injection of military might to South Korea and an emergency session of the UN Security Council was told North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was “begging for war”.

Tensions on the Korean peninsula are at a decadeshigh level after Pyongyang claimed at the weekend to have successfully tested a hydrogen bomb capable of travelling on an intercontinental ballistic missile able to reach Australia and the US mainland.

It was the sixth and most powerful nuclear test, drawing widespread international condemnation.

But Mr Kim appears undeterred. South Korea has warned another missile test was being prepared — the third in a month.

The US urged China and other countries to cut off oil and energy supplies to North Korea.

“We have kicked the can down the road long enough. There is no more road left,” said Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN.

Mr Turnbull welcomed the prospect of the international community imposing tougher sanctions, saying they would be the key to avoiding war. Australia would immediately be involved if the US was to declare war on North Korea.

“The Security Council has already imposed sanctions and what they are now considering is imposing even tougher ones,” he said. “Really that is the key to bringing the regime to its senses, without conflict.”

In a phone call, Mr Trump told South Korean President Moon Jae-in the US would be prepared to offer “many billions” in weapons sales and agreed the South could build more powerful non-nuclear missiles.

“President Trump reaffirmed the US’s iron-clad commitment to defend South Korea,” a South Korean Government spokesman said.

Japan indicated it was preparing the mass evacuation of its citizens from South Korea. A government spokesman said advance evacuation preparations were under way.

“If the US decided on a military strike against the North, the Japanese government would start moving toward an evacuation,” a source said.