Why do retirees marry in Thailand ?

[snoop1130]

South Korea warns that North may launch ICBM after nuclear test

By Christine Kim and David Brunnstrom

 

 

SEOUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - 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.

 

GRAPHIC: Nuclear North Korea - http://tmsnrt.rs/2lE5yjF

 

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.

 

(Additional reporting by Shin-hyung Lee, Hyunjoo Jin, Cynthia Kim in SEOUL, Steve Holland and John Walcott in WASHINGTON, John Ruwitch in SHANGHAI, Wayne Cole and Swati Pandey in SYDNEY; Writing by Lincoln Feast; Editing by Paul Tait, Robert Birsel)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-9-4

[canuckamuck]

They aren't going to need a Gulf of Tonkin, Pearl Harbor, Archduke Ferdinand, 9/11 event this time. Of course everything is still on the table.

Edited September 4, 2017 by canuckamuck

[Cory1848]

1 hour ago, canuckamuck said:

They aren't going to need a Gulf of Tonkin, Pearl Harbor, Archduke Ferdinand, 9/11 event this time. Of course everything is still on the table.

Of the four items in your set, which one doesn't match the others?

[KIWIBATCH]

Flatten N.Korea before it's too late to do so.....

[JHolmesJr]

The MOAB needs to be dropped asap.

[tifino]

2 minutes ago, JHolmesJr said:

The MOAB needs to be dropped asap.

or KJUaan drops a bigger one when he next farts

[faraday]

Why do China & Russia object to THAAD?

[phantomfiddler]

One thing is for sure. If North Korea shoots any missiles off to U.S. territory and any land, Trump will be blamed for not acting soon enough, and if there is any strike on N.K. beforehand to prevent such attack, Trump will be blamed for being too aggressive ! There surely are a lot of unrealistic people out there.

[YetAnother]

2 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

and not fair,

chinese talking about fair........;bet what he really meant was ;'it is not fair the way we see it'

[Justgrazing]

19 minutes ago, faraday said:

Why do China & Russia object to THAAD?

Because it negates their own missile capability in what effectively are their own backyards .. That is If its as effective as the U S claims it is as ICBM takedown with it is not guaranteed .. If the fat kid in N K does test another missile over the next few days don't be suprised if the U S use THAAD to try and take it down as apart from actually attacking N K in one way or another there is little more they can do than show they have a defence capability against K J U's missiles as sanctions don't seem to stop or even slow him down in his pursuit of Nuclear armed missiles .. But if that does happen the next few days what might follow on could be dangerous as then K J U may then feel he has to respond .. 

[canuckamuck]

1 hour ago, Cory1848 said:

Of the four items in your set, which one doesn't match the others?

All of them

[tonray]

1 hour ago, phantomfiddler said:

One thing is for sure. If North Korea shoots any missiles off to U.S. territory and any land, Trump will be blamed for not acting soon enough, and if there is any strike on N.K. beforehand to prevent such attack, Trump will be blamed for being too aggressive ! There surely are a lot of unrealistic people out there.

 

Yes...but he takes credit for things done by others...so naturally he needs to take the blame also. Double edged sword for the great Deal Maker...

[Justgrazing]

In a suprise move of concilliation D J T sent the badly coiffeured boy leader a different sort of rocket complete with a field full of fuel in an effort to de-escalate tensions .. 

[boomerangutang]

2 hours ago, faraday said:

Why do China & Russia object to THAAD?

Because it puts defensive missiles on their doorsteps.  Note (which sounds like a koan) when has there every been a defensive weapon which cannot be used for offense?  Even in Viking times, a shield could be used to clobber someone.

 

2 hours ago, phantomfiddler said:

One thing is for sure. If North Korea shoots any missiles off to U.S. territory and any land, Trump will be blamed for not acting soon enough, and if there is any strike on N.K. beforehand to prevent such attack, Trump will be blamed for being too aggressive ! There surely are a lot of unrealistic people out there.

Those are two of several reasons why the US should not have Trump calling the shots (literally and figuratively).  He is supremely unqualified to be in a leadership position: He can't control his emotions, he makes dumb-ass decisions daily, he's got the maturity of a bratty 7 yr old, and his knowledge of history and int'l affairs is abysmal.  Other than that, he's fine.  

 

1 hour ago, tonray said:

 

Yes...but he takes credit for things done by others...so naturally he needs to take the blame also. Double edged sword for the great Deal Maker...

It's impossible for Trump to take blame for anything.  

[Stargeezr]

Lets just all hope that the fat boy in NK will be taken out before he really does send a nuke missle for real into the air at all.  China is playing a very dangerous game by not shutting him right down. They are the only country besides the Russians that are still giving NK any goods or trade. Very dangerous game indeed.

Geezer