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Monday 4 SepteMber 2017
Mattis: North Korea threat would bring massive response

Continued from Front annihilation” of the North, The precise strength of the it said was a nuclear war- strongly suggests the North
Kim Jong Un’s regime on but then added somberly, underground nuclear ex- head being fitted onto an tested a high-yield but
Sunday claimed “per- “We have many options plosion had yet to be de- intercontinental ballistic compact nuclear weapon
fect success” in an un- to do so.” The administra- termined. South Korea’s missile. that could be launched on
derground test of what it tion has emphasized its pur- weather agency said Sunday’s detonation builds a missile of intermediate or
called a hydrogen bomb. intercontinental range.
It was the North’s sixth nu- Hans Kristensen, a nuclear
clear test since 2006 — the weapons expert at the
first since Trump took office Federation of American
in January — and involved Scientists, said the North
a device potentially vastly probably will need to do
more powerful than a nu- more tests before achiev-
clear bomb. ing a functioning hydrogen
Trump, asked by a reporter bomb design.
during a trip to church ser- Beyond the science of the
vices if he would attack blast, North Korea’s accel-
the North, said: “We’ll see.” erating push to field a nu-
No U.S. military action ap- clear weapon that can tar-
peared imminent, and get all of the United States
the immediate focus ap- is creating political com-
peared to be on ratchet- plications for the U.S. as it
ing up economic penalties, seeks to balance resolve
which have had little effect with reassurance to allies
thus far. that Washington will up-
The U.N. Security Council hold its decadeslong com-
scheduled an emergency mitment to deter nuclear
meeting at the request of attack on South Korea and
the U.S., Japan, France, Japan.
Britain and South Korea. In this undated image distributed on Sunday, Sept. 3, 2017, by the North Korean government, That is why some ques-
It would be the Security shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at an undisclosed location, inspecting the loading of a tioned Trump’s jab Sunday
Council’s second urgent hydrogen bomb into a new intercontinental ballistic missile. at South Korea. He tweet-
session in under a week on (Korean CNA via AP) ed that Seoul is finding that
the North’s weapons tests, its “talk of appeasement”
which have continued in suit of diplomatic solutions, the artificial earthquake on recent North Korean will not work. The North Ko-
the face of a series of sanc- knowing the potentially caused by the explosion advances that include reans, he added, “only un-
tions. horrific costs of war with the was five times to six times test launches in July of two derstand one thing,” imply-
Members of Congress North. But the decision to stronger than tremors gen- ICBMs that are believed to ing military force might be
expressed alarm at the have Mattis deliver a public erated by the North’s previ- be capable of reaching required. The U.S. has about
North’s test and empha- statement seemed to sug- ous five tests. the mainland U.S. The North 28,000 troops stationed in
sized strengthening U.S. gest an escalating crisis. North Korea’s state-run says its missile development South Korea and is obliged
missile defenses. Leaders in Mattis also said the interna- television broadcast a spe- is part of a defensive effort by treaty to defend it in the
Russia, China and Europe tional community is unified cial bulletin to announce to build a viable nuclear event of war.
issued condemnations. in demanding the denu- the test, and said Kim at- deterrent that can target Patrick Cronin, an Asia ex-
In briefs remarks after a clearization of the Korean tended a meeting of the U.S. cities. pert with the Center for a
White House meeting with peninsula and that Kim ruling party’s presidium The Arms Control Associa- New American Security,
Trump and other national should know that Wash- and signed the go-ahead tion said the explosion ap- said Trump’s comment on
security officials, Mattis ington’s commitment to order. Earlier, the party’s peared to produce a yield South Korea was probably
told reporters that America Japan and South Korea is newspaper published pho- in excess of 100 kilotons of “intended to stiffen the
does not seek the “total unshakeable. tos of Kim examining what TNT equivalent, which it said spine of an ally.” q

US seizes control of Russian posts in San Fran, DC, NY

By JOSH LEDERMAN that the FBI was “clearing Russia has been incensed
Associated Press the premises.” Not true, by the move to shutter Rus-
WASHINGTON (AP) — The said a senior State Depart- sia’s consulate in San Fran-
United States seized control ment official, adding that cisco and trade offices in
Saturday of three Russian U.S. officials had joined Rus- Washington and New York,
diplomatic posts in the U.S. sian Embassy personnel for actions the U.S. took in re-
after confirming the Rus- walkthroughs of the three taliation for Moscow’s de-
sians had complied with buildings. cision last month to force
the Trump administration’s “These inspections were the U.S. to cut its diplo-
order to get out within two carried out to secure and matic personnel in Russia to
days, officials said. protect the facilities and 455. Moscow has accused
As the Kremlin cried foul, to confirm the Russian gov- the U.S. of violating inter-
accusing Washington of ernment had vacated the national law by shuttering
bullying tactics, the U.S. premises,” the official said the facilities, a charge the
disputed Moscow’s claims in a statement emailed U.S. disputes. On Saturday
that American officials Saturday to reporters by night, lights shined on sev-
had threatened to “break People stop to watch black smoke coming from the roof of the State Department on eral floors of the consulate
down the entrance door” the Consulate-General of Russia Friday, Sept. 1, 2017, in San condition the official not in San Francisco and some
to one of the facilities, and Francisco. be named. windows were open.q
(AP Photo/Eric Risberg)