South Korea said on Monday it was talking to the United States about deploying aircraft carriers and strategic bombers to the Korean peninsula after signs North Korea might launch more missiles in the wake of its sixth and largest nuclear test.
The U.N. Security Council was set to meet later on Monday to discuss new sanctions against the isolated regime. U.S. President Donald Trump had also asked to be briefed on all available military options, according to his defence chief.
Officials said activity around missile launch sites suggested North Korea planned more missile tests.
"We have continued to see signs of possibly more ballistic missile launches. We also forecast North Korea could fire an intercontinental ballistic missile," Jang Kyoung-soo, acting deputy minister of national defence policy, told a parliament hearing on Monday.
North Korea tested two ICBMs in July that could fly about 10,000 km (6,200 miles), putting many parts of the U.S. mainland within range and prompting a new round of tough international sanctions.
South Korea's air force and army conducted exercises involving long-range air-to-surface and ballistic missiles on Monday following the North's nuclear test on Sunday, its joint chiefs of staff said in a statement.
In addition to the drill, South Korea will cooperate with the United States and seek to deploy "strategic assets like aircraft carriers and strategic bombers", Jang said.
South Korea's defence ministry also said it would deploy the four remaining launchers of a new U.S. missile defence system after the completion of an environmental assessment by the government.
The rollout of the controversial Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system at a site south of the South Korean capital, Seoul, is vehemently opposed by neighbouring China and Russia, had been delayed since June.
TOUGH TALK
North Korea said it tested an advanced hydrogen bomb for a long-range missile on Sunday, prompting a warning of a "massive" military response from the United States if it or its allies were threatened.
"We are not looking to the total annihilation of a country, namely North Korea," U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said after meeting Trump and his national security team.
"But as I said, we have many options to do so."
Trump has previously vowed to stop North Korea developing nuclear weapons and said he would unleash "fire and fury" if it threatened U.S. territory
Despite the tough talk, the immediate focus of the international response was expected to be on tougher economic sanctions.
Diplomats have said the U.N. Security Council could now consider banning North Korean textile exports and its national airline, stop supplies of oil to the government and military, prevent North Koreans from working abroad and add top officials to a blacklist to subject them to an asset freeze and travel ban.
Asked about Trump's threat to punish countries that trade with North Korea, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said China has dedicated itself to resolving the North Korean issue via talks, and China's efforts had been recognised.
"What we absolutely cannot accept is that on the one hand (we are) making arduous efforts to peacefully resolve the North Korean nuclear issue, and on the other hand (our) interests are being sanctioned or harmed. This is both not objective and not fair," he told a regular briefing.
On possible new U.N. sanctions, and whether China would support cutting off oil, Geng said it would depend on the outcome of Security Council discussions.
Chinese state-run Xinhua news agency said in an editorial North Korea was "playing a dangerous game of brinkmanship" and it should wake up to the fact that such a tactic "can never bring security it pursues".
While South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed on Monday to work with the United States to pursue stronger sanctions, Russia voiced scepticism.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said sanctions on North Korea had reached the limit of their impact. Any more would be aimed at breaking its economy, so a decision to impose further constraints would become dramatically harder, he told a BRICS summit in China.
South Korea says the aim of stronger sanctions is to draw North Korea into dialogue. But, in a series of tweets on Sunday, Trump also appeared to rebuke South Korea for that approach.
"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 on Twitter.
Still, Trump's response was more orderly and less haphazard than he had offered to other hostile actions by North Korea.
His handling of its latest nuclear test reflected a more traditional approach to crisis management, which U.S. officials said illustrated the influence of Mattis and new White House chief of staff, retired Marine Corps General John Kelly.
MARKETS CAUTIOUS
Japanese and South Korean stock markets both closed down about 1 percent on Monday, while safe haven assets including gold and sovereign bonds ticked higher, but trade was cautious. [MKTS/GLOB]
"Assuming the worst on the Korean peninsula has not proven to be a winning trading strategy this year," said Sean Callow, a senior foreign exchange strategist at Westpac Bank.
"Investors seem reluctant to price in anything more severe than trade sanctions, and the absence of another 'fire and fury' Trump tweet has helped encourage markets to respond warily."
South Korea's finance minister vowed to support financial markets if instability showed signs of spreading to the real economy.
Sunday's test had registered with international seismic agencies as a man-made earthquake near a test site. Japanese and South Korean officials said the tremor was about 10 times more powerful than the one picked up after North Korea's previous nuclear test a year ago.
China's National Nuclear Safety Administration said data from radiation monitoring stations near the North Korean border showed no impact on "China's environment or populace".
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said that, while North Korea was not a puppet state of China, Beijing needed to do more to pressure its neighbour.
"The Chinese are frustrated and dismayed by North Korea's conduct, but China has the greatest leverage, and with the greatest leverage comes the greatest responsibility," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corp on Monday.
Reuters
Mon Sep 04 2017
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un provides guidance on a nuclear weapons program in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang September 3, 2017. KCNA via REUTERS
Tiada kesan sampingan daripada vaksin COVID-19 AstraZeneca di Indonesia - Suruhanjaya
Tiada laporan diterima mengenai kes trombosis dengan sindrom "thrombocytopenia" yang dikaitkan dengan vaksin COVID-19 AstraZeneca di Indonesia.
Johor peruntuk lebih RM1.9 juta sedia kemudahan Wi-Fi Premium Maju Johor
Kerajaan Johor memperuntukkan lebih RM1.9 juta bagi menyediakan kemudahan Wi-Fi Premium Maju Johor di 63 hotspot melibatkan 23 lokasi bermula Julai ini.
Kaum India jangan undi ikut emosi, terpengaruh hasutan boikot PRK KKB - Mugilaan
Komuniti India dinasihat perlu memanfaatkan undi dengan memilih wakil rakyat yang benar-benar dapat memberikan perkhidmatan terbaik.
PKBM sasar Mohd Azizulhasni raih pingat emas di Sukan Olimpik Paris
Amarjit berkata sasaran itu bukan dilakukan secara tiba-tiba malah ia realistik berdasarkan keadaan The Pocket Rocketman ketika ini.
Pelan tindakan rangsang ekonomi golongan asnaf sedang dirancang
Jabatan Perdana Menteri (Hal Ehwal Agama) sedang merancang pelan tindakan yang bertujuan merangsang kebebasan ekonomi golongan asnaf.
Rusia adakan raptai perarakan hari kemenangan
Tentera Rusia telah mengadakan raptai bagi menyambut perarakan hari kemenangan negara tersebut yang akan datang di Moscow.
Mengikut jadual, tentera akan berarak melalui pusat bandar Moscow di hadapan Presiden Rusia Vladimir Putin pada 9 Mei nanti.
Mengikut jadual, tentera akan berarak melalui pusat bandar Moscow di hadapan Presiden Rusia Vladimir Putin pada 9 Mei nanti.
Al Jazeera akan ambil tindakan perundangan
Al Jazeera akan ambil tindakan perundangan
Tiada pengangkutan lain, jemaah Malaysia hanya guna bas
Naib Konsul Haji Malaysia & Pengarah Operasi Madinah, Ashrof Shamsuddin maklumkan, 31,600 jemaah haji Malaysia hanya akan menggunakan bas sebagai pengangkutan di Madinah dan Mekah sepanjang musim haji pada tahun ini, 1445H/2024M.
Simbah asid: Sultan Selangor titah PDRM siasat hingga ke akar umbi
Sultan Sharafuddin yang merupakan Penaung Selangor FC dan Pengerusi Selangor FC,
Raja Muda Selangor Tengku Amir Shah mengecam sekeras-kerasnya tindakan tidak bermoral itu.
Raja Muda Selangor Tengku Amir Shah mengecam sekeras-kerasnya tindakan tidak bermoral itu.
Berita tempatan pilihan sepanjang hari ini
Berikut adalah berita yang paling menjadi tumpuan sepanjang Ahad, 5 Mei 2024.
Biden rancang untuk berdebat dengan Trump
Sebelum ini, Biden tidak komited untuk berdebat dengan lawannya, Trump.
Lelaki bertindak bakar diri di luar mahkamah New York
Max Azzarello yang berasal dari St. Augustine, Florida, dilaporkan telah diselamatkan dan berada dalam keadaan kritikal.
7 juri dipilih dalam bicara kes wang sogok yang dihadapi Trump
Tujuh juri dipilih dalam perbicaraan kes wang sogok Donald Trump di New York, perbicaraan jenayah pertama terhadap bekas presiden Amerika Syarikat.
Berita antarabangsa pilihan sepanjang hari ini
Antara pelbagai berita luar negara yang disiarkan di Astro AWANI, berikut adalah yang paling menjadi tumpuan sepanjang hari ini.
Perbicaraan skandal Donald Trump - bintang porno bermula
Donald Trump menjadi bekas Presiden Amerika Syarikat pertama yang menghadapi perbicaraan kes jenayah.
Bicara kes bayaran tutup mulut yang dihadapi Trump bermula dengan pemilihan juri
Donald Trump akan menjadi bekas presiden pertama dalam sejarah Amerika Syarikat (AS) yang dibicarakan atas tuduhan jenayah.
Trump gagal tangguh, perbicaraan tetap berlangsung 15 April ini
Ini merupakan kali pertama bekas Presiden AS dibicarakan melibatkan bayaran menutup mulut kepada seorang bintang filem lucah.
Biden menang pemilihan peringkat awal di Dakota Utara
Dalam pemilihan peringkat awal di Dakota Utara, terdapat 13 perwakilan ditawarkan dan kebanyakan pengundian dilakukan melalui undi pos.
Berita antarabangsa pilihan sepanjang hari ini
Antara pelbagai berita luar negara yang disiarkan di Astro AWANI, berikut adalah yang paling menjadi tumpuan sepanjang hari ini.
Perbicaraan Donald Trump bermula 15 April
Ini merupakan kali pertama bekas Presiden AS dibicarakan melibatkan bayaran menutup mulut kepada seorang bintang filem lucah.