‘Both effective and overwhelming’
Mattis: North Korea threat would bring massive military response
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Sunday shot back at North Korea’s claimed test of a hydrogen bomb with a blunt threat, saying the U.S. will answer any threat from the North with a “massive military response — a response both effective and overwhelming.” Earlier, President Donald Trump threatened to halt all trade with countries doing business with the North, a veiled warning to China, and faulted South Korea for its “talk of appeasement.”
The tough talk from America’s commander in chief and the retired Marine general he picked to oversee the Pentagon came as the Trump administration searched for a response to the escalating crisis. Kim Jong Un’s regime on Sunday claimed “perfect success” in an underground test of what it called a hydrogen bomb. It was the North’s sixth nuclear test since 2006 — the first since Mr. Trump took office in January — and involved a device potentially vastly more powerful than a regular atomic bomb.
Mr. Trump, asked by a reporter during a trip to church services if he would attack the North, said: “We’ll see.” No U.S. military action appeared imminent, and the immediate focus appeared to be on ratcheting up economic penalties, which have had little effect thus far.
In South Korea, the nation’s military said it conducted a live-fire exercise simulating an attack on North Korea’s nuclear test site to “strongly warn” Pyongyang over the latest nuclear test. Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the drill involved F-15 fighter jets and the country’s land-based “Hyunmoo” ballistic missiles. The released live weapons “accurately struck” a target in the sea off the country’s
eastern coast, the JCS said.
The U.N. Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting at the request of the U.S., Japan, France, Britain and South Korea. It would be the Security Council’s second urgent session in under a week on the North’s weapons tests, which have continued in the face of a series of sanctions.
Members of Congress expressed alarm at the North’s test and emphasized strengthening U.S. missile defenses. Leaders in Russia, China and Europe issued condemnations.
In briefs remarks after a White House meeting with Mr. Trump and other national security officials, Mr. Mattis told reporters that America does not seek the “total annihilation” of the North, but then added somberly, “We have many options to do so.” The administration has emphasized its pursuit of diplomatic solutions, knowing the potentially horrific costs of war with the North. But the decision to have Mr. Mattis deliver a public statement seemed to suggest an escalating crisis.
The precise strength of the underground nuclear explosion had yet to be determined. South Korea’s weather agency said the artificial earthquake caused by the explosion was five times to six times stronger than tremors generated by the North’s previous five tests.
North Korea’s state-run television broadcast a special bulletin to announce the test, and said Mr. Kim attended a meeting of the ruling party’s presidium and signed the go-ahead order. Earlier, the party’s newspaper published photos of Mr. Kim examining what it said was a nuclear warhead being fitted onto an intercontinental ballistic missile.
Sunday’s detonation builds on recent North Korean advances that include test launches in July of two ICBMs that are believed to be capable of reaching the mainland U.S. The North says its missile development is part of a defensive effort to build a viable nuclear deterrent that can target U.S. cities.
The Arms Control Association said the explosion appeared to produce a yield in excess of 100 kilotons of TNT equivalent, which it said strongly suggests the North tested a high-yield but compact nuclear weapon that could be launched on a missile of intermediate or intercontinental range.
Hans Kristensen, a nuclear weapons expert at the Federation of American Scientists, said the North probably will need to do more tests before achieving a functioning hydrogen bomb design.
Beyond the science of the blast, North Korea’s accelerating push to field a nuclear weapon that can target all of the United States is creating political complications for the U.S. as it seeks to balance resolve with reassurance to allies that Washington will uphold its decades-long commitment to deter nuclear attack on South Korea and Japan.
News Agency said President Xi Jinping and Russian leader Vladimir Putin, meeting on the sidelines of a Beijing-led economic summit, agreed “to adhere to the goal of the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, have close communication and coordination and properly respond” to the test.