{"id":44153,"date":"2017-09-23T07:11:29","date_gmt":"2017-09-23T07:11:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=44153"},"modified":"2017-09-23T12:40:35","modified_gmt":"2017-09-23T12:40:35","slug":"u-s-challenged-by-rising-north-korea-tensions-russia-urges-calm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/news\/u-s-challenged-by-rising-north-korea-tensions-russia-urges-calm.html","title":{"rendered":"U.S. challenged by rising North Korea tensions, Russia urges calm"},"content":{"rendered":"

U.S. challenged by rising North Korea tensions, Russia urges calm<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

Russia urged \u201chot heads\u201d to calm down on Friday as the United States admitted it felt \u201cchallenged\u201d by North Korea\u2019s warning that it could test a hydrogen bomb over the Pacific and President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un traded more insults.<\/span><\/p>\n

Trump called the North Korean leader a \u201cmadman\u201d on Friday, a day after Kim dubbed him a \u201cmentally deranged U.S. dotard\u201d who would face the \u201chighest level of hard-line countermeasure in history\u201d in retaliation for Trump saying the U.S. would \u201ctotally destroy\u201d North Korea if it threatened the U.S. or its allies.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to calm down the hot heads,\u201d Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters at the United Nations, where world leaders gathered this week for the annual U.N. General Assembly. \u201cWe continue to strive for the reasonable and not the emotional approach…of the kindergarten fight between children.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson expressed hope in an interview with ABC that sanctions and \u201cvoices from every corner of the world\u201d could lead North Korea back to talks, but admitted intensifying rhetoric had left Washington \u201cquite challenged.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

North Korea\u2019s Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho, warned on Thursday that Kim could consider a hydrogen bomb test of an unprecedented scale over the Pacific. Ri, who is due to speak to the United Nations on Saturday, added that he did not know Kim\u2019s exact thoughts.<\/span><\/p>\n

In response, Tillerson said U.S. diplomatic efforts would continue but all military options were still on the table.<\/span><\/p>\n

North Korea\u2019s six nuclear tests to date have all been underground, and experts say an atmospheric test, which would be the first since one by China in 1980, would be proof of the success of its weapons program.<\/span><\/p>\n

A senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Washington was taking Kim\u2019s threat seriously and added that any atmospheric test would be a \u201cgame-changer.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But he said there were questions about North Korea\u2019s technical capabilities and Washington did not give \u201ctoo much credence\u201d to Pyongyang taking such action. \u201cThere\u2019s a certain amount of bluster that\u2019s taken for granted when you\u2019re dealing with North Korea,\u201d the official told Reuters.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018UNACCEPTABLE\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

Pyongyang conducted its sixth and largest nuclear test on Sept. 3 and has launched dozens of missiles this year as it accelerates a program aimed at enabling it to target the United States with a nuclear-tipped missile.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lavrov on Friday again pushed a proposal by Moscow and Beijing for a dual suspension of North Korean weapons tests and the U.S.-South Korean military drills to kick-start talks. Lavrov suggested that a neutral European country could mediate.<\/span><\/p>\n

He described the exchange of insults between the U.S. and North Korean leaders was \u201cquite bad, unacceptable.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

U.S. Treasury and gold prices rose while the Japanese yen strengthened on Friday as the exchange of barbs fueled geopolitical jitters and drove investors into assets considered safer during times of turmoil.<\/span><\/p>\n

The latest round of rhetoric began on Tuesday when Trump, in his first address to the United Nations, made the threat to destroy North Korea, a country of 26 million people. He also called Kim a \u201crocket man\u201d on a suicide mission.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHis remarks … have convinced me, rather than frightening or stopping me, that the path I chose is correct and that it is the one I have to follow to the last,\u201d Kim said in the statement carried by the North\u2019s official KCNA news agency on Friday, promising to make Trump \u201cpay dearly for his speech.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

South Korea said it was the first direct statement of its kind by a North Korean leader. Japan, the only country to suffer an atomic attack, called the North Korean threat to conduct an atmospheric test \u201ctotally unacceptable\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018MADMAN\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

Trump on Friday tweeted: \u201cKim Jong Un of North Korea, who is obviously a madman who doesn\u2019t mind starving or killing his people, will be tested like never before.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The White House said on Friday that Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in had agreed to Seoul\u2019s \u201dacquisition and development of highly advanced military assets\u201c and to increased deployment of U.S. strategic assets in and around South Korea on a rotational basis.\u201d It did not name specific weapons systems.<\/span><\/p>\n

On Thursday Trump announced new U.S. sanctions that he said allows the targeting of companies and institutions that finance and facilitate trade with North Korea. Then when asked if diplomacy was still a possible, he said: \u201cWhy not?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The additional sanctions on Pyongyang, including on its shipping and trade networks, showed Trump was giving more time for economic pressure to weigh on North Korea. U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said banks doing business in North Korea would not be allowed to operate in the United States.<\/span><\/p>\n

KCNA also published rare criticism of official Chinese media, saying comments on North Korea\u2019s nuclear program had damaged ties and suggested Beijing, its neighbor and only major ally, had sided with Washington.<\/span><\/p>\n

KCNA said Chinese media was \u201copenly resorting to interference in the internal affairs of another country\u201d and driving a wedge between the two countries.<\/span><\/p>\n

China\u2019s Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said: \u201cAll relevant sides should exercise restraint and dedicate themselves to easing the situation rather than irritating each other.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The rhetoric has started to rattle some in other countries. French Sports Minister Laura Flessel said France\u2019s team would not travel to the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in South Korea if its security could not be guaranteed.<\/span><\/p>\n

The 2018 Games are to be staged in Pyeongchang, just 80 km (50 miles) from the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea, the world\u2019s most heavily armed border.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Source:-\u00a0http:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-northkorea-missiles-usa\/u-s-challenged-by-rising-north-korea-tensions-russia-urges-calm-idUSKCN1BW1ZZ<\/span><\/p>\n

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