North Korea minister: US and Trump making trouble not DPRK
TO CONTINUE TO FOLLOW OUR LIVE UPDATES ON NORTH KOREA - CLICK HERE
9.00am BST: Donald Trump’s White House is reportedly assessing different military options to deal with Kim Jong-un amid warnings that a nuclear weapons test from North Korea is imminent.
North Korea’s vice foreign minister has said that a test will come “whenever the supreme headquarters sees fit”, and a top US official has said that is a question of “if, it’s when”.
Han Song Ryol said the situation on the Korean peninsula is now in a “vicious cycle” and also accused President Trump of “making trouble” with “aggressive” tweets.
He said: "Trump is always making provocations with his aggressive words.
"It's not the DPRK but the US and Trump that makes trouble."
China has reiterated its plea for a peaceful resolution to the tension between Washington and Pyongyang.
Speaking in Beijing, Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi suggested he would rather see diplomacy than the use of military force.
He said: "Military force cannot resolve the issue. "Amid tensions we will also find a kind of opportunity to return to talks.
"Whoever provokes the situation, whoever continues to make trouble in this place, they will have to assume historical responsibility.”
Thursday April 13
10.31 BST: The GBU-43, also known as the "mother of all bombs," is a GPS-guided munition and was first tested in March 2003.
It is regarded as particularly effective against clusters of targets on or just underneath the ground. Other types of bombs can be more effective against deeper, hardened tunnels.
It was the first time the United States has used this size of conventional bomb in a conflict.
Trump described the bombing as a "very successful mission." It was not immediately clear how much damage the device did.
8.45pm BST: President Donald Trump touted the bombing as evidence of a more muscular U.S. foreign policy since he took office in January after eight years of President Barack Obama.
"If you look at what's happened over the last eight weeks and compare that really to what's happened over the last eight years, you'll see that there's a tremendous difference," Trump told reporters at the White House on Thursday.
6.45pm BST: The US military just demonstrated its destructive power by dropping a MOAB bomb in Nangarhar, Afghanistan.
The Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb is an impressive explosive capable of levelling land around it.
The bomb is one of the most powerful weapons possessed by the US army, bar none but the atomic bomb.
General John W. Nicholson of the US Central Command said in a statement: “As ISIS-K's losses have mounted, they are using IEDs, bunkers and tunnels to thicken their defense.”
He added: “This is the right munition to reduce these obstacles and maintain the momentum of our offensive against ISIS-K.
This bomb was used against ISIS targets in Afghanistan but serves as a reminder of America’s tremendous military power.
4.45pm BTS: Despite the growing tension in the region, the North Korean regime is preparing for the nation's most important holiday – the 105th anniversary of the birth of founder Kim Il-sung.
More than 100,000 people were spotted in the centre of Pyongyang today, in the run-up to the national holiday on Saturday.
A large scale military parade is expected to march down the streets of the capital on the day.
3pm BST: Donald Trump has said that Nato is “no longer obsolete”, reversing his previous position on the military alliance.
The US President hosted Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the White House on April 12 for a “productive discussion about what more Nato can do in the fight against terrorism”.
If Kim Jong-un were to attack the US, any retaliation would be backed by the 27 other Nato states under Article V of the North American Treaty.
Mr Trump also tweeted today: "I have great confidence that China will properly deal with North Korea. If they are unable to do so, the U.S., with its allies, will! U.S.A."
Noon BST: More than half of American’s feel concerned about the way Donald Trump is handling the North Korean crisis – a CBS poll has revealed.
Respondents were questioned about how they felt Mr Trump was dealing with the situation and 56 per cent said they felt “uneasy” about his capabilities.
Only 39 per cent of the questioned people felt “confident” in the US president.
Mr Trump is currently busy consulting international leaders about the situation and has sought advice from China – a long time North Korean ally.
11.15am BST: After Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe warned that North Korea could fire a chemical weapon toward Japan, figures have revealed that Abe’s military scrambled a record number of fighter jets in the past 12 months amid sharply escalating tensions with China.
The Japanese Air Self Defence Force said fighter jets had been scrambled 1,168 times in the 12 months up to the end of March this year.
The overall figure is a sharp rise compared to the preceding 12 months when jets were deployed 873 times.
The previous high was 944 times back in 1984.
10.00am BST: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe warned that Kim Jong-un could launch a sarin gas attack in the style of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.
Assad reportedly killed 89 citizens – including children – with a chemical weapons attack in Syria last week. He has denied responsiblity.
Mr Abe told Japan’s parliament this morning: “There is a possibility North Korea already has a capability to deliver missiles with sarin as warheads.”
8.00am BST: Kim Jong-un has been pictured at the opening of a flagship housing project in Pyongyang as fears grow over his nuclear ambitions.
The despot leader cut the ribbon at the Ryomyong Street development, a collection of residential tower blocks including nearly 5,000 apartments.
It stands near the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, where the bodies of Kim’s father Kim Jong-il and grandfather Kim Il-sung lie in state.
North Korean Prime Minister Pak Pong-ju praised Kim, who has built a cult of personality in his communist hermit state.
“I would like to express the greatest thanks in the name of the people and the army to great leader comrade Kim Jong-Un, who wisely led this construction to victory,” Pak said.
“The project was a demonstration of "the 'do or die' spirit of our people and army who are willing to implement the Party's orders in all cases and a victory against imperialists' sanctions.”
06:30 BST: Around 200 foreign journalists gathered for what they were told would be a “big and important event”.
It turned out to be the opening of a new street in the centre of the capital, attended by Kim Jong-un.
06:20 BST: The two females charged with killing the estranged half-brother of North Korea's leader appeared in a Malaysian court on Thursday wearing bullet-proof vests, as one of their lawyers warned they feared "a trial by ambush" with police not sharing evidence.
Indonesian Siti Aishah, 25, and Doan Thi Huong, 28, from Vietnam, face the death penalty if convicted of murdering Kim Jong Nam at Kuala Lumpur International airport on Feb 13.
Aishah and Huong have told diplomats from their countries that they had believed they were carrying out a prank for a reality television show, and not a murder.
05:15 BST: South Korea said on Thursday it believed it would be consulted by the US before any possible pre-emptive strike against Pyongyang, where foreign journalists gathered for “a big and important event”
02:00 BST: China has scrambled another 25,000 troops to be militarised along the North Korean border as the country is put on ‘nationwide alert’ amid heightened tensions between the hermit state and the West, according to reports.China’s armoured and mechanised infantry brigades in the Shandong, Zhejiang and Yunnan provinces have been given the go-ahead.
Wednesday April 12
10pm BST: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has reportedly ordered residents of the country’s capital Pyongyang to leave the city immediately, sparking fears he may be preparing for war.
Reports in Russian newspaper Pravda Report claim more than 600,000 people - around 25 per cent of the city’s population - are being urgently evacuated, as tensions escalate between North Korea and the US.
According to South Korean media, residents in the kingdom have said goodbye to each other, sparking concerns the tyrannical leader could be about to act after months of nuclear weapon testing.
Foreign reporters have been told to prepare for a “big and important event" on North Korea's biggest national celebration, called ‘Day of the Sun’.
9pm BST: Satellite images show “high levels” of activity at North Korea’s nuclear site as tensions with the US reach boiling point.
The chilling images reveal “unusually high levels of activity” at Kim Jong-un’s Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site.
Experts say the images could mean a nuclear test is “imminent” as US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson calls for North Korea to destroy its nuclear arsenal.
North Korea has conducted five declared and remotely detected underground nuclear tests at its dedicated nuclear test site at Punggye-ri in mountainous terrain in the northeast of the country over the last decade.
Tensions between North Korea and the US have escalated rapidly after a US Navy strike group was deployed towards the Korean peninsula in a show of military force.
It comes after Donald Trump discussed North Korea with the Chinese President in Florida and ordered the bombing of a Syrian airbase last week.
As the US President warns that America is "sending an armada" towards the Korean peninsula, here are the latest warnings and live updates on the situation.
7.30pm BST: Rex Tillerson and Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov confirmed the two countries have looked at ways of reigning in the North Korean threat.
Mr Tillerson said at a joint-press conference: “We discussed current threats posed by North Korea’s regime, the regime’s ongoing development of the nuclear program and the constructive role Russia can play in encouraging the regime of north Korea in changing its course.”
5pm BST: US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has sat down with President Vladimir Putin after being kept waiting for most of the day in Moscow.
Vladimir Putin says trust has eroded between the US and Russia under Trump, as Moscow delivers an unusually hostile reception.
3pm BST: Tensions have escalated further today amid reports that the Japanese Navy is planning to join forces with the US Navy strike group.
Japan's navy is planning exercises with the Carl Vinson carrier group in a joint show of force, sources in Tokyo told Reuters.
2pm BST: White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer apologised for saying Adolf Hitler “was not using gas on his own people” in the same way Assad is doing.
“I made a mistake I got into a topic that I shouldn't have and I screwed up," he said at a media forum in Washington.
1.20pm BST: Donald Trump tweeted: "Had a very good call last night with the President of China concerning the menace of North Korea."
Xi Jinping called for a peaceful resolution to the rising tensions on the Korean peninsula in an urgent telephone conversation with Donald Trump, according to Chinese state media.
Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported that Mr Xi said China "is committed to the target of denuclearisation on the peninsula, safeguarding peace and stability on the peninsula, and advocates resolving problems through peaceful means."
Noon BST: Chinese state newspaper Global Times says Beijing would support tougher UN sanctions - such as “strictly limiting” oil exports - if North Korea conducts a nuclear test.
The editorial said: “China, too, can no longer stand the continuous escalation of the North Korean nuclear issue at its doorstep.”
11.30am BST: There are concerns that Kim Jong-un could order a nuclear test to mark the 105th anniversary of the birth of his grandfather Kim Il-sung on Saturday.
North Korea often marks important anniversaries with military parades and tests of its nuclear or missile capabilities.
11am BST: Emerging stocks snapped out of this year's longest losing streak on Wednesday, rising 0.3 percent as a fall in US Treasury yields towards five-month lows offset jitters around Syria and North Korea.
10am BST: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said: “I will be frank, we have had a lot of questions regarding the ambigious and contradictory ideas over a whole plethora of international and national issues from Washington.”
9am BST: US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is meeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for tough talks in Moscow this morning.
It comes after Donald Trump said that Russian President Vladimir Putin is “backing a person that’s truly an evil person” in Syrian President Bashar Assad.
The US President condemned Assad's recent chemical attack, adding: “I think its very bad for Russia. I think it’s very bad for mankind… this is an animal.”
8.30am BST: State-owned Chinese media has warned that China may take military action against North Korea if it crosses Beijing’s “bottom line”.
An editorial in the Communist-party affiliated Global Times said: “China has a bottom line that it will protect at all costs, that is, the security and stability of northeast China.
“If the bottom line is touched, China will employ all means available including the military means to strike back.”
8am BST: Donald Trump has said the US is 'sending an armada’ towards the Korean peninsula in the face of threats from North Korea.
“We have submarines. Very powerful. Far more powerful than the aircraft carrier,” he told Fox Business Network.
3.42am BST: North Korea should halt any plans for nuclear and missile activities "for its own security", a Chinese newspaper said on Wednesday, warning that the US is making clear it doesn't plan to "co-exist" with a nuclear-armed Pyongyang.
3.35am BST: The Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force (MSDF) may carry out helicopter landings on the USS Carl Vinson, which was deployed near the Korean peninsula in the wake of Kim Jong-un’s missile tests.
An anonymous source told Reuters: "Japan wants to dispatch several destroyers as the Carl Vinson enters the East China Sea."
One source who told Reuters about the military drills has direct knowledge of the plan, while the other has reportedly been briefed.
Tuesday April 11
10pm BST: US stocks have ended down but well off the day's lows today amid worries over US, Russia, Syria and North Korea tensions.
The concerns drove investors into gold and other safe-haven assets and pushed up the CBOE Volatility index - Wall Street's "fear gauge," which closed above 15 for the first time since Election Day.
Quincy Krosby, market strategist at Prudential Financial in Newark, New Jersey, said: “Geopolitical risk is the focal point right now.”
9.50pm BST: US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said the movement of a US Navy strike group toward the western Pacific Ocean is not tied to a specific event.
Speaking during a Pentagon press briefing, Mr Mattis said it is a “prudent move” as the Carl Vinson moves toward the Korean peninsula.
He said: “As far as the movement of the Carl Vinson, she is stationed there in the Western Pacific for a reason, she operated freely, up and down the Pacific, and she is just on her way up there because that is where we thought it was most prudent to have her at this time."
8.30pm BST: US stocks have eased as mounting geopolitical tensions drove investors out of riskier assets.
With about an hour left to the session, the S&P 500 was off its lowest levels of the day.
US officials have stressed that stronger sanctions are the most likely US course to press North Korea to abandon its nuclear program.
But Washington has said all options - including military ones - are on the table and the US strike against Syria last week should serve as a warning to Pyongyang.
7.20pm BST: White House press secretary Sean Spicer told a press briefing that President Donald Trump has clearly put Pyongyang “on notice”.
“I think he has been very clear that he will not tolerate some of this action by North Korea,” he said. “I think I have said this before on a variety of topics, the President is not someone who is going to go out there and telegraph his response.”
Mr Spicer said Mr Trump was keeping his options on the table but any direct response to North Korea would be “decisive and proportional”.
He added: “He has made it very clear with respect to North Korea that their behaviour and their actions with respect to the missile launches is not tolerable.
“The last thing we want to see is a nuclear North Korea that threatens the coast of the Unites States or for that matter any other country or any other set of human beings.
“We need stability in the region and I think he has put them clearly on notice.”
5.20pm BST: Russia's Foreign Ministry has rasied concerns about the US stance on North Korea as US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson arrives in Moscow for talks.
"We are really worried about what Washington has in mind for North Korea after it hinted at the possibility of a unilateral military scenario," the ministry said in a statement.
"It's important to understand how that would tally with collective obligations on de-nuclearising the Korean peninsula, something that is underpinned in UN Security Council resolutions."
North Korea says US strike on Syria warrants nuclear arsenal
4pm BST: US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson landed in Moscow for talks after Russia condemned the US bombing of a Syrian airbase last week.
Mr Tillseron has said it is clear that “the reign of the Assad family is coming to an end”. There is speculation that the US could also take action against North Korea.
3.30pm BST: A military parade is expected Pyongyang to mark the 105th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il-sung. North Korea could also tests of its nuclear or missile capabilities.
2.30pm BST: US stocks opened slightly lower on Tuesday amid mounting tensions in North Korea and Syria. Worried investors sought shelter in gold, Treasuries and the yen.
2pm BST: The US Navy strike group, led by a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, remains en route to the western Pacific.
1pm BST: US President has sent Kim Jong-un a serious warning, tweeting: "North Korea is looking for trouble. "If China decides to help, that would be great. If not, we will solve the problem without them!"
Noon BST: North Korea's official Rodong Sinmun newspaper threatened that the country is prepared to respond to US aggression with a nuclear attack on America.
"Our revolutionary strong army is keenly watching every move by enemy elements with our nuclear sight focused on the US invasionary bases not only in South Korea and the Pacific operation theatre but also in the US mainland," it said.
11am BST: A fleet of North Korean cargo ships, mainly fully laden, are heading home after China told its trading companies to return coal from the isolated country, shipping data shows.
Following repeated missile tests that drew international criticism, China banned all imports of North Korean coal in February - cutting off the country's most important export product.
9am BST: North Korea is today convening its Supreme People's Assembly session. It comes before the 105th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il-sung on Saturday.
North Korea often marks important anniversaries with military parades and tests of its nuclear or missile capabilities.
North Korea tension rises after US strikes on Syria
7am BST: Former Russian military general Evgeny Buzhinsky told BBC Four's Today programme: “When we had the Cold War everything was much clearer and less dangerous - there were definite red lines, there were definite truths.
“Now, after 20 years of the so-called friendship between the Russia and West, the situation is much worse, no truths or no red lines.”
6am BST: Stocks in Hong Kong and China fell this morning as investors' appetite for risky assets soured on concerns over political tensions in North Korea and the Middle East.
Energy stocks were among the biggest decliners, underpinned by losses in coal miners, after a trading source said China's customs department ordered traders to return North Korean coal.
5am BST: South Korean acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn warned of "greater provocations" by North Korea and ordered the military to intensify monitoring and to ensure close communication with the United States.
"It is possible the North may wage greater provocations such as a nuclear test timed with various anniversaries including the Supreme People's Assembly," said Hwang.
Hwang has been acting leader since former President Park Geun-hye was removed amid a graft scandal.
Monday April 10
Pyongyang has slammed ‘reckless moves’ by the US and pledged to defend the North Korea from invasion ‘by powerful force of arms’, according to state media.
A Foreign Ministry spokesman was quoted as saying: “We will hold the US wholly accountable for the catastrophic consequences to be entailed by its outrageous actions.”
But China and South Korea have agreed to slap tougher sanctions on North Korea if the country carries out nuclear or long-range missile tests, according to an official in Seoul.
Former MI6 head Sir John Sawers has warned that tensions with North Korea are actually a much bigger threat to world peace than the war in Syria.
“If you are looking for a world crisis which could bring about the dangers of a clash between great powers then North Korea is a bigger concern than Syria,” he told BBC Four’s Today programme.
At the weekend, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Donald Trump and Xi Jinping had “extensive discussions around the dangerous situation in North Korea” at a summit at in Florida last week.
“President Xi clearly understands, and I think agrees, that the situation has intensified and has reached a certain level of threat that action has to be taken,” he told CBS’s Face the Nation.