Trump: Appeasing ‘hostile and dangerous’ North Korea useless
● President critical of Seoul reaction after bomb test
US president Donald Trump has condemned North Korea’s latest nuclear test and warned that appeasing the “rogue nation” will not work.
North Korea called its sixth and most powerful nuclear test a “perfect success” but its neighbours and other world leaders criticised the hydrogen bomb blast.
Mr Trump said on Twitter that North Korea’s “words and actions continue to be very hostile and dangerous” to the US.
He called it “a rogue nation which has become a great threat and embarrassment to China, which is trying to help but with little success”.
China is by far North Korea’s biggest trading partner, but Mr Trump appeared to be more critical of South Korean president Moon Jae-in, who has attempted to reach out to the North.
“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!” Mr Trump tweeted.
Though the precise strength of the blast has yet to be determined, the artificial earthquake it caused was several times stronger than tremors generated by its previous tests. It reportedly shook buildings in China and Russia.
The test was carried out at 12:29pmlocaltimeatthepunggye-ri site where North Korea has conducted nearly all of its past nuclear tests. Officials in Seoul put the magnitude at 5.7, while the US Geological Survey said it was a magnitude 6.3.
North Korea’s state-run television broadcast a special bulletin yesterday afternoon to announce the test.
It said that leader Kim Jong Un attended a meeting of the ruling party’s presidium and signed the go-ahead order.
Earlier in the day, the party’s newspaper ran a front-page story showing photos of Mr Kim examining what it said was a nuclear warhead being fitted to the nose of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
North Korea test-launched two ICBMS in July that are believed to be capable of reaching the mainland United States. That would be a major step forward for Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson warned that North Korea could present a “new order of threat” if it succeeds in producing a hydrogen bomb small enough to fit on a ballistic missile.
China’s foreign ministry said that the Chinese government had “expressed firm opposition and strong condemnation”. It urged North Korea to “stop taking erroneous actions that deteriorate the situation”.
South Korea held a National Security Council meeting chaired by Mr Moon. National Security director Chung Eui-yong said Mr Moon will seek every available measure, including new United Nations sanctions or the deployment of more US military assets, to further isolate Pyongyang.
Japan’s prime minister Shinzo Abe called the test “absolutely unacceptable”.
The nuclear test is the North’s first since Mr Trump assumed office in January.
Mr Trump has been talking tough with the North over its stepped-up missile tests, including a comment that Pyongyang would see “fire, fury and power unlike any of the world had ever witnessed” if it continued even verbal threats.
North Korea conducted two nuclear tests last year, the last nearly a year ago, on 9 September, the anniversary of the nation’s founding.
It has since maintained a fast pace in weapons tests, including its first two ICBM launches test in July.
Last month, North Korea fired a potentially nuclearcapable mid-range missile over northern Japan.
Earlier yesterday, photos released by the North Korean government showed Mr Kim talking with his lieutenants as he observed a device that was apparently the thermonuclear weapon destined for an ICBM.
Another photo showed a diagram on the wall behind Mr Kim of a bomb mounted inside a cone.
State media said Mr Kim visited the Nuclear Weapons Institute and inspected a “homemade” H-bomb with “super explosive power”. More than six children are taken into care every week in Edinburgh, shocking new figures have shown.
Children at risk of abuse or neglect, deemed beyond parental control, or considered abandoned were among the 341 taken from their homes across the Capital last year – up from 332 in 2016.
More than a third of the youngsters taken into care were under the age of four and 12 were removed at their own request.
Duncan Dunlop, chief executive of Who Cares? Scotland, said action was needed.
He added: “These are Edinburgh’s children and we can do more to address these appalling statistics.”