Trump threatens to wider sanction after North Korea nuclear test

President Donald Trump threatened to increase economic sanctions and halt trade with any nation doing business with North Korea, and his defense chief said the U.S. has “many military options” after the Kim Jong Un regime said it successfully tested a hydrogen bomb with “unprecedentedly big power.”

Sunday’s test, North Korea’s first since Trump took office, was a “perfect success” and confirmed the precision and technology of the bomb, according to the Korean Central News Agency. Energy from the underground explosion, near the Punggye-ri nuclear test site in northeast North Korea, was about six times stronger than the nuclear test of a year ago, South Korea’s weather agency said.

Trump responded to the test, which drew international condemnation, in a series of tweets. He outlined plans for new sanctions that would target China, which still has commercial ties with North Korea, and criticized South Korea for its “talk of appeasement.”

Outside the White House this afternoon, Defense Secretary James Mattis told reporters that Trump and Vice President Mike Pence met with him and other national security advisers about the latest provocation from North Korea. Mattis promised a “massive military response -- a response both effective and overwhelming” if the U.S. or any of its allies are threatened.

“We have many military options,” Mattis said, appearing alongside GeneralJoseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “We made clear that we have the ability to defend ourselves and our allies South Korea and Japan from any attack."

Source: Bloomberg Pro Terminal

Trader Bozhidar Arabadzhiev

Read more:

• And for all the bounty hunters: Iran offers $80m for the head of Donald Trump
• US service member and 2 US Defense Dept contractors killed in Kenya attack
• Iranian Quds leader Qasem Soleimani has been killed – how are markets reacting
• A calm end of an otherwise loud 2019
• Old but Gold – Top 5 posts of Varchev Finance