North Korea News LIVE: Trump says US will destroy North Korea if forced

21:10 In his address to the UN General Assembly, US President Donald Trump said that "Rocket Man" Kim Jong-un is on a suicide mission. "If the righteous many do not confront the wicked few, then evil will triumph," Trump said.

20:04 The United States is only 1 out of 193 member countries of the United Nations and still pays more than 22 percent of its entire budget, Trump pointed out. However, he added that if the money results in achieving the goal its is earmarked for -- peace -- then the investment is more than just well worth it.

19:59 "I have changed the rules of engagement in our fight against the al-Qaeda and other terrorist organisations," Trump said.

19:56 "Other than the vast military power of the United States, it is the Iranian people that Iran's leaders fear most," Trump said.

19:52 Thank China and Russia for joining UN vote, but we must do more in this situation, says Trump.

19:50 The United States has great strength and patience, Trump said. But if it is forced to defend itself or its ally, then it will destroy North Korea.

19:48 "We must oppose threats to sovereignty, from the Ukraine to the South China Sea," Trump said.

19:45 The United States will continue to be a friend to the world, especially to its allies, Trump said, but will not settle for a one-sided deal where the US gets nothing.

19:44 As President of the United States, I will always put America first, says Trump.

19:40 Trump quotes President Truman as saying that the United Nations is only as strong as its individual member countries.

19:38 "To put it simply, we meet at a time of both phenomenal promise and great peril," Trump said.

19:36 Trump says US to spend USD 700 billion on military. "Our military will soon be the best it has ever been," Trump said.

19:35 President Trump starts his address to the General Assembly. He is expected to talk about North Korea and Iran.

19:33 President Temer of Brazil concludes his address to the General Assembly.

19:26 As is customary every year, Brazil spoke first in the UN General Assembly meeting. President Temer is still speaking and has hit out against terror in his speech so far.

19:09 US President Donald Trump is slated to address the General Assembly later in the session. Trump is expected to talk about the North Korean and Iranian crises but going by what his aides have indicated, the speech is expected to have a "philosophical" tone to it.

19:07 UN General Assembly president Miroslav Lajčák has started addressing the meet.

19:05 "We are not only facing a refugee crisis, we are facing a crisis of solidarity," Guterres said in his address to the UN General Assembly.

19:03 While addressing the meet, Guterres called on UN General Assembly leaders to build a UN system aimed at supporting member nations in bettering their citizens' lives.

September 19, 19:00 UN Secretary General António Guterres has started addressing the meet and has warned that we must not sleepwalk our way into a war.

The UN Security Council on Saturday strongly condemned North Korea's "highly provocative" launch of a missile that flew over Japan and demanded that Pyongyang immediately halt such actions. Read the full story here.

North Korea said on Saturday it aims to reach an "equilibrium" of military force with the United States, which earlier signalled its patience for diplomacy is wearing thin after Pyongyang fired a missile over Japan for the second time in under a month.

"Our final goal is to establish the equilibrium of real force with the U.S. and make the U.S. rulers dare not talk about military option," North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was quoted as saying by the state news agency, KCNA.

20:40 US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Friday that North Korea's continuing missile tests threaten the entire world and stressed the United States was working closely with regional allies Japan and South Korea on the problem.

"In East Asia, an increasingly aggressive and isolated regime in North Korea threatens democracies in South Korea, Japan, and more importantly, and more recently, has expanded those threats to the United States, endangering the entire world," Tillerson said to a gathering of the Community of Democracies.

"We first look to our regional allies South Korea and Japan. By working with them and other democratic partners, we continue to build consensus at the United Nations Security Council to create a united international front that upholds our values and strives to make us safer." — Reuters Report

18:30 The United States wants to exhaust every diplomatic option on North Korea's nuclear and missile programmes and wants to see loopholes in the North Korean sanctions regime closed, US disarmament ambassador Robert Wood said on Friday.

Asked if war or a military strike was possible, Wood told reporters in Geneva: "We are not taking any options off the table but ... we are pursuing the diplomatic track right now. "That's where we are. We want to exhaust all diplomatic options," Wood said. — Reuters report

18:00 UN Secretary-General António Guterres condemned North Korea's missile launch over Japan on Friday and said he would discuss the situation at the United Nations General Assembly's gathering next week. "The Secretary-General calls on the DPRK leadership to cease further testing, comply with the relevant Security Council resolutions, and allow space to explore the resumption of sincere dialogue on denuclearisation," Guterres said in a statement, adding that he would discuss it "with all concerned parties in the margins of the upcoming" UN General Assembly.

17:28 A poll by Gallup Analytics suggested the majority of Americans appeared ready to support military action against North Korea, at least as a last resort. Some 58 percent said they would favour taking military action if economic and diplomatic efforts failed to achieve US goals.

16:32 It was another day of consolidation for the Indian market as equity benchmarks ended flat amid rising geopolitical tensions after North Korea launched another missile that flew over Japan.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 30.68 points at 32,272.61 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 1.20 points to 10,085.40. The market managed to recover in last hour of trade as the Nifty clawed back above 10,100 level but failed to hold those gains.

15:51 Asked at the briefing if Beijing would change its approach, Hua said China will "continue to comprehensively and completely implement the relevant resolutions of the Security Council."

15:25 China has finally reacted to this morning's missile launch. Beijing has condemned it and appealed for restraint to avoid inflaming tensions in the region.

"The Chinese side opposes the DPRK's violation of the resolution of the (UN) Security Council, and its use of ballistic missile technology for launch activities," foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said.

15:06 North Korean state media has yet to reference the launch, but a commentary published in the Rodong Sinmun newspaper Friday said "no matter how strong the pressure is, it doesn't work on us."

14:19 The White House said President Donald Trump has been briefed about the missile launch.

"The President has been briefed on the latest North Korea missile launch by General Kelly," White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said.

13:44 Japan has warned that "similar actions (by the North) would continue" as Pyongyang appeared to have shrugged off UN sanctions agreed earlier this week.

13:21 The heated debate in South Korea over redeploying US nuclear weapons on its territory has now reached Washington, The Washington Post reports. A senior delegation of South Korean lawmakers is in town making the case to the Trump administration and Congress that such a move is needed to confront North Korea’s growing nuclear capability and place more pressure on China.

12:47 Japan's defence minister believes North Korea "has Guam in mind" after its most recent missile launch, noting it had sufficient range to hit the US territory, reports AFP.

Pyongyang has threatened to hit the US Pacific territory with "enveloping fire," sparking dire warnings from US President Donald Trump.

Itsunori Onodera said Friday's missile, which overflew Japanese territory, flew 3,700 km - "long enough to cover Guam", which is 3,400 km from North Korea. "We cannot assume North Korea's intention, but given what it has said, I think it has Guam in mind," Onodera said.

12:16 The benchmark BSE Sensex dropped by 75 points or 0.23 per cent in morning trade today as losses in pharma, oil&gas, banking and power stocks widened amid lingering worries over North Korea.

11:44 The US dollar fell sharply against the safe-haven yen and Swiss franc in early Asian hours in response to the launch, although losses were quickly pared in very jittery trade.

11:22 As major suppliers of oil to the regime, Russia and China “must indicate their intolerance for these reckless missile launches by taking direct actions of their own,” US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in a statement.

10:56 Last month, North Korea fired an intermediate range missile from a similar area near the capital Pyongyang that also flew over Hokkaido into the ocean and said more would follow.

“The first time was unexpected, but I think people are getting used to this as the new normal,” said Andrew Kaz, who teaches English in Kushiro City in Hokkaido. “The most it seemed to disrupt was my coffee.”

10:28 South Korea's Moon says dialogue with North is impossible at this point.

10:08 Echoing Washington's reaction, Australia’s Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has harshly condemned North Korea’s missile launch as “reckless and dangerous,” and called for even tougher punishments against Pyongyang.

09:59 The United Nations Security Council will meet at half past midnight IST on Saturday on the latest North Korea missile test, diplomats said, at the request of the United States and Japan.

09:36 Rising living standards will limit the effect of any sanctions on North Korea, reports Bloomberg. Although the country is still poor, its gross domestic product grew by an estimated 3.9% in 2016, to about USD 28.5 billion, the fastest pace in 17 years.

09:22 Australia’s foreign minister, Julie Bishop, says North Korea is gaining greater capability with each missile launch.

09:19 South Korea fired two ballistic missiles in a show of strength against the North – but one failed.

Yonhap news agency reports that the South Korean military reacted while Pyongyang’s missile was still in the air, firing two Hyunmoo-2 missiles close to the South-North border.

The exercise took place just six minutes after the North Korean missile was launched, it said, and was intended to demonstrate to Kim Jong-un how swiftly Seoul could launch a retaliatory attack.

09:08 Friday's missile flew farther and higher than the last North Korean projectile launched in August. It passed over Japan before landing in the sea at roughly 7:16 am, roughly 2,000 kilometers (about 1,240 miles) east of Japan's Hokkaido island, according to reports. The previous launch had landed only about 1,180 kilometers (733 miles) east of Hokkaido.

08:53 “President Moon ordered officials to closely analyse and prepare for new possible North Korean threats like EMP (electro-magnetic pulse) and biochemical attacks,” Moon’s spokesman Park Su-hyun said.

08:50 South Korean President Moon Jae-in said North Korea’s latest launch of a missile over Japan will only result in further diplomatic and economic isolation for the North, and officials said Moon had also warned of possible new threats, reports Reuters.

08:44 The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said that the ballistic missile did not pose a threat to North America. It further determined that the ballistic missile did not pose a threat to Guam.

08:35 US President Donald Trump has yet to issue an official statement on North Korea's latest missile launch. Stay tuned to his Twitter handle.

08:20 The EU expanded its North Korea sanctions list, as the international community builds pressure on Pyongyang over its nuclear weapon and ballistic missile programmes, reports AFP. The 28-member bloc said it was adding nine individuals and four organisations to the blacklist, including the North Korean state-owned Foreign Trade Bank, in line with UN sanctions announced in August.

08:15 "China and Russia must indicate their intolerance for these reckless missile launches by taking direct actions of their own,” US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has said.

08:10 Gold rose on Friday to pull further away from a two-week low, after North Korea fired another missile over Japan, triggering the latest round of safe-haven buying in markets while weighing on the dollar.

08:07 The dollar fell to as low as 109.55 yen in early Asian trade, but later came off that low and was last trading at 110.05 yen, down 0.2 percent from late US trade on Thursday. Against another safe haven, the Swiss franc, the dollar slipped 0.2% to 0.9621 franc.

08:03 South Korea has called an urgent National Security Council meeting while a similar meeting is also underway in Tokyo.

07:58 President Moon Jae-in's administration also said on Friday that the country conducted its own ballistic missile test into the sea, according to Reuters.

07:55 Seoul immediately responded to its northern neighbour's latest act of provocation on Friday with military drills and its own missile test.

07:50 Most indexes in Asia were moderately lower on Friday after North Korea launched a missile in the direction of the east.

By 8:38 am HK/SIN, the dollar recouped losses against the safe-haven yen, trading at 110.13 yen after falling as low as 109.54 on the news. The Swiss franc, another safe-haven currency, traded at 0.9627 francs to the dollar after strengthening as high as 0.9610 earlier.

Gold prices climbed as high as USD 1,334.36 an ounce before paring gains to trade at USD 1,331.90 by 8:37 a.m. HK/SIN. Still, that remained a touch above the USD 1,329 seen before the news. The yellow metal is often regarded as a safe haven in times of geopolitical uncertainty.

07:47 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was in India till last night, described the launch as “unacceptable”.

“The international community needs to come together and send a clear message to North Korea that it is threatening world peace with its actions,” Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters in Tokyo.

07:45 US officials said Washington’s commitments to the defence of its allies remained “ironclad”. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called for “new measures” against North Korea and that “these continued provocations only deepen North Korea’s diplomatic and economic isolation”.

07:40 US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis said the launch “put millions of Japanese into duck and cover”, although residents in northern Japan appeared calm and went about their business as normal.

07:30 Kim Jong-un is at it again. North Korea fired a missile that flew over Japan’s northern Hokkaido far out into the Pacific Ocean on Friday, according to Reuters.

The missile flew over Japan and landed in the Pacific about 2,000 km east of Hokkaido, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said.

The missile reached an altitude of about 770 km and flew for about 19 minutes over a distance of about 3,700 km, according to South Korea’s military - far enough to reach the US Pacific territory of Guam, which Pyongyang has previously threatened to strike.

Spoke to #US@VP Pence on coordinated approach to #NorthKorea, on #EU perspective of #WesternBalkans, & on EU-US relations. Here the readout pic.twitter.com/DY4OdRUie9

— Federica Mogherini (@FedericaMog) September 14, 2017

16.23 US Vice President Mike Pence today reportedly spoke with the High Representative of the European Union Federica Mogherini via telephone to discuss North Korea and the Western Balkans.

16.10 The Japanese government has revised its wording of the alert messages sent out when a foreign missile is launched in Japan's direction.

The revision comes after many people complained about alerts issued under the J-ALERT national emergency warning system on August 29, when North Korea launched a ballistic missile that flew over Japan. People complained that they did not know where to take shelter. The wording in the revised version mentions the last area the missile passed through and the direction it is headed.

16.05 South Korean officials have said that US President Donald Trump is set to visit South Korea in November as a part of his whistle-stop tour of Asia. Trump's visit will be a monumental one since this is the first time he will be in the Korean Peninsula after North Korea's latest nuclear test.

16.00 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe today called for strict enforcement of a UN resolution against North Korea over its latest nuclear test, saying the world must force a change in Pyongyang’s policies.

Abe made the remarks during a visit to India, which was aimed at deepening economic and defence ties to balance the weight of a rising China.

"I’d like to appeal to the world, together with Prime Minister Modi, that we need to have North Korea change its policy through the thorough implementation of the newly adopted Security Council resolution by the international community. Prime Minister Modi and I are in full agreement on this," Abe said.

15.45 Japan’s top government spokesman said on Thursday that a North Korean threat to sink Japan with a nuclear bomb is “extremely provocative and outrageous”.

15.41 According to some North Korean government documents obtained by Japanese daily The Yomiuri Shimbun, North Korea has been pressing Chinese companies to increase their exports of gasoline and other refined petroleum products since August.

A source with close knowledge of the Chinese-North Korean relationship said North Korean leader Kim Jong Un issued an order to stockpile gasoline and has restricted how much could be distributed on the market.

Last week, there were multiple reports of gasoline prices skyrocketing in Pyongyang but the price rise was attributed to the UN sanctions imposed on the rogue nation. However, it could have been because of a strategic stockpiling of gasoline by the government, which would have shortened supply in the local market.

14.55 Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris, who owns a telecom company in North Korea, has said that the war of words between Kim Jong-un's regime and the Donald Trump-led US government could make them look "stupid" in the end, if neither one of them makes good on their threats.

"If you threaten and you don't act you really look stupid, so it's best not to," Sawiris told CNBC in an exclusive interview. Read the full story here.

14.52 North Korea, which is currently undergoing a famine due to insufficient rain, has started promoting 'labour tours' for tourists visiting the rogue nation. These tours involve tourists working in the North Korean countryside, planting rice, picking fruits and weeding fields.

Although this might not be one's idea of a holiday, the North Korean tourism website explains that the project aims to show visitors the farming culture of the country, as well as to present the locals’ life and daily habits.

14.48 South Korean President Moon Jae-in has reportedly dismissed the possibility of deploying nuclear weapons in his country, warning it could lead to a nuclear arms race in northeast Asia. The statement comes after numerous calls by citizens for South Korea to have nukes of its own in light of the rapidly escalating North Korean threat.

14.42 While conducting a review of the United States' old but intimidating nuclear arsenal, US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis told the reporters travelling with him that the US is not intimidated by North Korea. "You can leave no doubt at all," he said. "Don't try it. It won't work. You can't take us out."

13.27 News has just come in that the North Korean regime was observed moving a mobile missile launcher over the last 48 hours to the west coast. The observation was made my intelligence agencies, who have said that this could mean another North Korean nuke test is around the corner.

13.13 Despite the US currently dealing with catastrophe, or the possibility of it, on multiple fronts (Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, and North Korea), US President Donald Trump found the time to criticize his primary rival in last year's presidential elections Hillary Clinton.

"Crooked Hillary Clinton blames everybody (and every thing) but herself for her election loss. She lost the debates and lost her direction!" Trump tweeted earlier today. "The "deplorables" came back to haunt Hillary.They expressed their feelings loud and clear. She spent big money but, in the end, had no game!" he said in another tweet.

13.07 After US President Donald Trump told his advisors last week to prepare to withdraw from the South Korea-US Free Trade Agreement, South Korean ambassador to the UN Choi Seok-young today said that Trump's actions at the moment seem very confusing. "South Korea has been an adamant ally to the United States for the last 70 years. Now, North Korea is provoking and China is expanding their power, flexing muscles. We don’t quite understand what is the main purpose of Mr. Trump attacking Korea by terminating Korea-U.S. FTA at this critical time," Choi said.

Choi was the one who negotiated the Free Trade Agreement on behalf of South Korea seven years ago. His American counterpart Wendy Cutler, who is now Acting US Trade Representative, has also warned that if US pulls out of the Korea-US FTA, South Korea could build stronger economic ties with China.

12.45 Former US President Jimmy Carter today slammed current President Donald Trump's way of handling the North Korea situation, saying that, had he been president, he would have treated the North Koreans with respect.

"I know what the North Koreans want. What they want is a firm treaty guaranteeing North Korea that the US will not attack them or hurt them in any way, unless they attack one of their neighbours," Carter said. "But the United States has refused to do that."

12.35 US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson arrived in London today, ahead of a special summit hosted by British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson to discuss North Korea and Libya. Tillerson will reportedly meet with US ambassador to the UK Woody Johnson and French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian to talk about North Korea.

12.33 The South Korean government said today that it was considering giving North Korea USD 8 million in aid through international organisations, regardless of the political situation. According to Seoul's unification ministry, the government plans to hold a meeting on inter-Korean cooperation next Thursday to finalize whether or not to offer humanitarian assistance to vulnerable people in North Korea.

12.30 New Yorker staff writer Evan Osnos recently went on a dangerous trip to North Korea to learn more about its leader Kim Jong-un andits regime. The journalist reported that in Pyongyang, talk of war, nuclear weapons and missiles was everywhere. It was all people were talking about, and it was also the state's primary agenda. Most billboards in the city have pictures of missiles and other weapons, while some have a picture of the US Capitol reduced to rubble and North Korean missiles flying into it. Read an interview of Osnos done by WYSO host Terry Gross here.

12.19 The South Korean Ministry of National Defence has said that it will put some of its "strategic" weapons on display during the Armed Forces Day event later this month in a show of firepower against North Korea.

12.00 In an interview with international affairs magazine Global Brief, Singapore's Ambassador-at-Large Bilahari Kausikan has talked about what he thinks will be China's response if the US and North Korea go to war against each other. He reckons China's response will be limited since North Korea would have brought it upon itself by provoking the US right from the onset. However, he believes China will have to respond in some limited capacity because a conflict against North Korea and its regime would, in the end, become about the survival of a fellow Lenninist state. Read edited excerpts here.

11.44 Fox News' Hollie McKay has written an insightful article on how Russia benefits from propping up the North Korean regime. Read the story here.

11.40 The United States has started a review of its own arsenal of nuclear weapons, most of which were built during the cold war. The arsenal is aging and upgrading and modernizing it will likely cost over USD 1 trillion.

The review is expected to take months to complete. Critics of the US' ICBMs have said that the silos meant to launch them are all in very compromising positions and will be sitting ducks if a war breaks out. Given the cost of modernzing them, they said the US should focus on building other weapons that might survive a first strike by the enemy.

11.25 The US Navy’s Seventh Fleet around Japan usually has around six Aegis ships assigned to BMD operations. Japan operates four ships of its own. They are armed with interceptors designed to shoot down warheads in space before they plunge to their targets. Around half of the ships would normally be at sea at any one time.

11.16 Japan’s navy is reportedly supplying fuel to US ballistic missile defence (BMD) ships in the Sea of Japan. By providing fuel to the US Aegis destroyers as well as its own BMD ships, Japan hopes to ensure patrols can be maintained without unnecessary gaps.

11.07 According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, North Korea is likely to face severe shortage of food in the near future, despite a drought in the country having recently ended.

Rainfall this year was "considerably lower" than a corresponding period in 2001, when cereal production in the communist dictatorship plunged to record lows, the organisation said in its report.

09.59 A day after a UN commission of experts monitoring the sanctions imposed on North Korea said that it is looking into the supply of portable air defence systems, surface-to-air missiles and radar to Mozambique involving the North Korean Haegeumgang Trading Corporation, the Mozambican government has responded to the allegation.

The government has promised to cooperate with the United Nations into investigations of the allegation that a Mozambican company breached UN sanctions against North Korea by buying weaponry from Kim Jong-un's regime.

09.56 An opinion piece by James Stavridis of Bloomberg has talked about how a naval blockade of North Korea would be the best way to cut it off and bring in stronger sanctions in the future. Read the full story here.

09.53 North Korea on Thursday made the most explicit threat yet of actually using nuclear weapons against another country.

North Korean state-run news agency KCNA said, citing a statement by North Korean communist organisation Korea Asia-Pacific Peace Committee (KAPPC), that Japan should be sunk into the sea.

“The four islands of the archipelago should be sunken into the sea by the nuclear bomb of Juche,” KCNA said. “Japan is no longer needed to exist near us.”

09.50 According to a report by The Sun, think tanks linked to US President Donald Trump have quietly started preparing studies on the aftermath of the war with North Korea. The studies are about how North Korea would have to be occupied and how best to handle an insurgency by the country's fanatical soldiers after it is occupied. Read the story here.

North Korea test-fired a thermonuclear weapon, with an estimated yield of around 250 kilotons (initial estimates were between 50 kt and 160 kt) on September 3.

The nuclear test was condemned by countries across the world and the United Nations.

The United States issued multiple warnings to North Korea, asking it stop its nuclear weapons program.

South Korea conducted a naval drill off the east coast.

The US and South Korea deployed THAAD missile defence systems across South Korea.

The United States demanded that the UN impose the strongest possible sanctions on North Korea, including cutting off the country's oil supply completely.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that imposing tough sanctions is not the answer to resolving the situation with North Korea.

Putin iterated that North Korea is not going to give up its nuclear arsenal, regardless of how many sanctions are imposed on it.

There was widespread speculation that North Korea would test-fire another nuke on September 9, the anniversary of its founding.

North Korea, however, celebrated the anniversary with flowers and parades, and did not test a nuclear weapon that day.

The US pushed a proposal to strengthen the already-existent UN sanctions on North Korea.

It was doubtful whether China or Russia, both permanent members of the UN Security Council, will agree to pass it when it was put to a vote.

In order to get the proposal passed, the US watered it down to a more acceptable level.

The UN imposed new sanctions on North Korea on Monday, after the Security Council passed the proposal with a 15-0 vote.

North Korea rejected the sanctions imposed on it and said that the US would now encounter the "greatest pain" it had ever experienced.

South Korea conducts first live-fire missile drill.

US defence analysts said satellite imagery confirmed that North Korea had resumed work at the nuclear testing site.

09.23 US-based defence analysts yesterday said that North Korea had resumed work at its underground nuclear weapon testing site.

After studying recent satellite images, the analysts said they had detected new vehicles, mining carts and other signs of activity at the Punggye-ri underground nuclear test site in northeast North Korea.

09.12 Rating agency Standard & Poor's has said that the tensions in the Korean Peninsula are not high enough to downgrade South Korea's sovereign rating.

"As long as there is no actual war outbreak, I think the impact is relatively limited, and that's why we don't change our outlook on the rating of South Korea," Kim Eng Tan, senior director of Asia-Pacific sovereign ratings at S&P, was quoted as saying by a Korean newspaper.

The US State Department issued a statement saying they haven't given up on diplomacy to get North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons. Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said that the department is "realistic" but also "optimistic" that diplomacy will resolve the issue, expressing satisfaction with the new UN Security Council resolution against the North.

The Korea Asia-Pacific Peace Committee (KAPPC), a North Korean communist organisation, demanded that that the United States be "beaten to death" like a "rabid dog" for pushing fresh UN sanctions on Pyongyang over its latest nuclear test and added that ally Japan should be "sunken into the sea".

09.10 Welcome to the live coverage of the rapidly developing situation in the Korean Peninsula. We will bring you updates as and when they come, along with a lot of interesting analyses and opinion pieces on the North Korea crisis.