Regional allies confront N Korea nuclear, missile tests

South Korea said on Monday it was preparing fresh military drills with its ally the United States and ramping up its ballistic missile defences in response to North Korea's sixth and most powerful nuclear test on Sunday.    

South Korea's defence ministry on Monday said it was seeing signs that Pyonyang was planning more missile testing.

"We have continued to see signs of possibly more ballistic missile launches. We also forecast North Korea could fire an intercontinental ballistic missile," said Chang Kyung-soo, a defence ministry official.

From Seoul, Joseph Kim has more forTRT World.

Switzerland offers to mediate

Switzerland is prepared to act as mediator to help resolve the crisis on the Korean Peninsula, including by hosting ministerial talks, Swiss President Doris Leuthard said on Monday.

Leuthard said Swiss troops were deployed on the demarcation zone between South Korea and North Korea and noted that her country - along with Sweden - had a long history of neutral and discreet diplomacy.

But China and the United States had to take their share of responsibility, she added, warning of "over-reactions."

S Korea, Japan prefer dialogue to confrontation

South Korea's President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed on Monday to pursue stronger UN sanctions against North Korea after Sunday's bomb test, South Korea's presidential spokesman said.

"Both heads of state agreed to cooperate closely with each other and the United States and shared the understanding there must be the most powerful sanctions and pressure applied on North Korea," presidential Blue House spokesman Park Su-hyun told a media briefing.

"And as part of that they agreed to push for more powerful UN sanctions," Park said after Moon and Abe spoke for about 20 minutes by phone. The aim of stronger sanctions was to draw North Korea into dialogue, he said.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Monday Japan would do its utmost, in cooperation with the United States, to defend itself against missiles fired by North Korea and to increase its missile defence capabilities.

The UN Security Council was set to meet later on Monday to discuss fresh sanctions against the isolated regime. 

US President Donald Trump had also asked to be briefed on all available military options, according to his defence chief.

South Korea's air force and army conducted exercises involving long-range air-to-surface missiles and ballistic missiles on Monday, the joint chiefs of staff said in a statement. More drills were being prepared with US forces in the South, it said.

The South will also announce on Monday its approval of an environmental assessment report for the deployment of a US anti-missile defence system.

Seoul said in June it would hold off installing the remaining components of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system until it completed an assessment of its impact on the environment.

China & Russia concerned at test, and THAAD

North Korea's closest ally China said it strongly condemned the nuclear test and urged Pyongyang to stop its "wrong" actions.

But it also said a threat from Trump to cut off trade with countries that deal with North Korea was unacceptable.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang on Monday said China regarded as "unacceptable a situation in which on the one hand we work to resolve this issue peacefully but on the other hand our own interests are subject to sanctions and jeopardized. This is neither objective nor fair."

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.                     

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov on Monday said any missteps over North Korea could make the situation worse and a political resolution was needed for the crisis.

"Those who are stronger and smarter should show restraint," Ryabkov said at a BRICS summit in China. "Any clumsy step could lead to an explosion."

Moscow would need to react to the expansion of a US anti-missile defence system in South Korea, Ryabkov added.

"It inevitably will raise the question about our reaction, about our military balances."

China also opposes the deployment in South Korea of the US THAAD anti-missile system, saying it upsets the strategic balance in the region.

US promises "massive" response if provoked

North Korea said an advanced hydrogen bomb for a long-range missile was tested on Sunday, prompting the 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," US 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 US territory.

That prompted the North to threaten to fire missiles towards the US Pacific territory of Guam, although it has since appeared to back away from that threat.

Tougher sanctions?

Despite the tough talk, the immediate focus of the international response was expected to be on tougher economic sanctions against Pyongyang.

Diplomats have said the UN Security Council could now consider banning Pyongyang's textile exports and the North's 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.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed on Monday to pursue stronger UN sanctions.

"Both heads of state agreed to cooperate closely with each other and the United States and shared the understanding there must be the most powerful sanctions and pressure applied on North Korea," presidential Blue House spokesman Park Su-hyun told a media briefing after the two leaders spoke by phone.

The aim of stronger sanctions was to draw North Korea into dialogue, he said.

However, Trump on Sunday 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 provocations by North Korea.

His handling of Pyongyang's latest nuclear test reflected a more traditional approach to crisis management, which US 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 were both down modestly on Monday, while safe haven assets including gold and sovereign bonds ticked higher, but trade was cautious.

"Assuming the worst on the Korean peninsula has not proven to be a winning trading strategy this year," said Sean Callow, a senior forex 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 caused by the latest test showed signs of spreading to the real economy.

Kim says test a "perfect success"

North Korea, which carries out its nuclear and missile programmes in defiance of UN resolutions and sanctions, said on state television the hydrogen bomb test ordered by leader Kim Jong-un had been a "perfect success."

Hours before, North Korean state news agency KCNA released pictures showing Kim inspecting a silver, hourglass-shaped warhead during a visit to the North's nuclear weapons institute.

The 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.

Pyongyang tested two ICBMs in July that potentially 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 tougher international sanctions.