North Korea LIVE: US says North Korea will be utterly 'destroyed' in war

North Korea's ballistic missile test on Tuesday will lead to armed conflict — and it will be Kim Jong Un's fault for pushing America to the breaking point, Senator Lindsey Graham said hours after the test.

“If we have to go to war to stop this, we will,” Graham told CNN Sit Room. “If there’s a war with North Korea it will be because North Korea brought it on itself, and we’re headed to a war if things don’t change.”

Hyekyung Jo, a North Korean defector living in Toronto with her husband and sons for seven years, had hoped to remain in Canada as a permanent resident.

Instead, she and as many as 50 other North Korean families residing across the GTA recently received letters from the federal Immigration Department informing them that their requests for permanent residency are poised to be revoked. They face deportation to South Korea — a place that Jo said is hostile to North Korean nationals.

Konstantin Kosachev, the chair of Russia's Foreign Affairs Committee, declared that North Korea was resisting temptations to launch a renewed provocation for two months, but ran out of patience with the US.

He said: “It’s a fact that during the past two months North Korea has been demonstrating restraint and did not provoke the international community by any means. Pyongyang, most likely, expected the same restraint in response on part of the West, both in judgments and actions.”

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull today condemned North Korea's latest intercontinental ballistic missile launch, describing the action as "illegal and dangerous" to global peace and stability.

Choo Mi-ae, the leader of South Korea's ruling Democratic Party, will meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping for talks during her trip to Beijing this week, her aide said Wednesday.

The meeting is slated to take place on the sidelines of an international conference of political parties in the Chinese capital Friday, amid heightened tensions sparked by North Korea's long-range ballistic missile launch on Wednesday.

A delegation of Russian lawmakers currently on a friendly visit to Pyongyang, will deliver Russia’s condemnation of the latest missile test to the North Korean government, a senior Russian lawmaker said.

The lawmaker described the test as "a yet another irresponsible move by Pyongyang, intended to fuel tensions in the region.

"However, one has to admit that Washington and Seoul have on many occasions provoked the North Korean leadership by their hostile rhetoric and military exercises in vicinity of the North Korean border," he said.

The US is trying to provoke North Korea into starting a war so that it can then strike back, according to a top Russian official.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday other nations in Asia should be wary of the US' ambitious and motivations in the region.

13:23 China expresses 'grave concern' over North Korean missile test China expressed “grave concern” on Wednesday after North Korea fired what appeared to be an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that landed close to Japan.

China hopes all parties act cautiously to preserve peace and stability, foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a regular news briefing.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in has asked for Sri Lanka's support in ending North Korea's nuclear and missile provocations, calling the North's latest missile test staged earlier in the day a grave challenge to global peace, the Korea Herald reported today.

President Moon said he strongly condemn North Korea's ‘reckless provocation’ that raises tension on the Korean Peninsula and seriously threatens international peace and stability.

11:34 People are not buying Trump's reassurances on North Korea US President Donald Trump saying "we will take care of it" has attracted a lot of flak from people on Twitter, who said that Trump's words were only scaring them more.

11:24 Gold crawls higher but investors largely unmoved by N Korea test Gold prices edged higher today amid a slightly weaker dollar, while North Korea's latest missile test had little impact on the safe-haven metal.

Gold traded in a narrow range despite a raft of economic news out of the United States, including progress on tax cuts and Fed chair nominee Jerome Powell's confirmation hearing.

In a statement issued today, Guam Homeland Security/Office of Civil Defence said that there was no immediate threat to Guam or the Marianas from North Korea.

Pyongyang has reiterated that it is not interested in diplomacy with the United States until it has demonstrated its nuclear deterrent capabilities, a North Korean official told CNN today.

The North Korean official told CNN’s Will Ripley that two steps are needed to achieve this goal. The first step is the "testing of a long range ICBM” capable of reaching the USA, the official said. The second step is an above-ground nuclear detonation or a “large scale hydrogen bomb” test. The official stated both steps are necessary for the DPRK to send a clear message to the Trump administration that it possesses an effective nuclear deterrent.

11:09 Indonesia condemns North Korea missile test The government of Indonesia has issued a statement condemning the first long-range missile test by North Korea in two months today — the rocket landed off Japan's coast — arguing the action threatened peace and security in the region.

Indonesia's Foreign Affairs Ministry pointed out in a statement that the missile test violated United Nations (UN) resolutions.

11:03Meeting on North Korea crisis to be in Canada after Christmas A planned meeting of foreign ministers to discuss the North Korean crisis is not scheduled to take place before the Christmas break in late December, a Canadian official said yesterday.

Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland announced Canada would co-host the meeting with the United States on Canadian soil. At least a dozen foreign ministers will be involved, said the official, who asked to remain anonymous given the sensitivity of the situation.

Less than a week before North Korea launched an intercontinental ballistic missile that could reach the continental US, a North Korean official said the country's nuclear program is only targeting the US.

Ri Jong-hyok, the Deputy of North Korea's Supreme People's Assembly delivered the comments during the Asian Parliamentary Assembly in Turkey, according to Yonhap News.

"It's Korean people's resolute decision that (North Korea) should face off the US only with nuclear (weapons) to achieve the balance of power," Ri reportedly said.

Read this opinion piece by Stan Grant of ABC news that talks about how North Korea, from being a weak state, has now reached a position where it can actually threaten world powers. Grant also points out that whatever plan the US has had so far is clearly not working.

Senator Dan Sullivan of Alaska, who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee has said, "more sanctions, credible military options and a more robust missile defense system (are) needed to address this very significant threat facing our nation".

Sullivan went on to say that while Alaska is more at risk because of the state's location, it's also at an important strategic location to serve the country.

Hillary Clinton pointedly undermined President Donald Trump's approach to North Korea on Monday during a videoconferenced speech to a conference in Beijing.

During her hour-long appearance, the 2016 Democratic nominee for president blasted both the White House and the Chinese government for their increasingly hard-line plan of attack as Pyongyang tries to complete a long-range nuclear missile.

China and Hong Kong shares fell on Wednesday despite gains on Wall Street, with investors’ risk appetite curbed by North Korea’s latest missile test.

North Korea has fortified its border with the South at what appears to be the location where one of its soldiers made a dramatic bid for freedom earlier this month.

A photograph posted on Twitter by the acting US ambassador to South Korea, Marc Knapper, showed a small group of civilian workers, watched by North Korean soldiers, digging a deep trench at the point the defector abandoned his vehicle and ran across the demarcation line separating the two countries on 13 November.

The Philippine government expressed serious concern over the launch of what appeared to be an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) by North Korea that landed off the waters of Japan.

“We call on Pyongyang to commit to making meaningful progress towards the peaceful resolution of the issues facing the Korean Peninsula,” the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said in a statement.

The UN Security Council will hold an urgent meeting on Wednesday to discuss North Korea's latest launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile, the US mission to the United Nations said.

The United States, Japan and South Korea moved quickly to request the meeting to address Pyongyang's launch of the ICBM which the Japanese defence ministry said probably fell within Japan's exclusive economic zone.

Global arms experts say North Korea’s latest test of a ballistic missile was an expected but troubling development that further solidifies Kim Jong Un’s role as a nuclear-backed strongman.

Experts say it’s unlikely the missile would be able to deliver a nuclear bomb that far just yet, as it appeared likely that Tuesday’s launch carried a lighter mock warhead. But many say such a reality is one step closer, and the test advances North Korea’s weapon program despite efforts by U.S. President Donald Trump to quash Kim’s ambitions.

09:58 North Korean defectors returned home despite father's plea China has sent back a group of North Korean defectors, including a child, despite a desperate plea by one of their relatives, the BBC reported.

The group of 10 was detained in China in early November after secretly crossing the border. One man already himself in exile, whose wife and four-year-old son were among those held, had said they could be killed if made to return.

Read this insightful opinion piece by Gabriel Schoenfeld on how US is losing its ability to understand the world.

A small wooden boat washed ashore in the Akita prefecture of Japan on Monday. Inside the ghost ship were the bodies of eight people, partially skeletonized.

The Japan Coast Guard said it was working to determine the nationalities of the dead, but a Japanese Coast Guard official told The Associated Press that one of the men was holding North Korean currency. The boat washed ashore some 45 miles north of where another boat came ashore last week with eight men who said they were from North Korea

Flight time, distance, and altitude all point to a very successful ICBM test by #NorthKorea. Currently trying to asses vehicle re-entry implications.

— DEFCONWarningSystem (@DEFCONWSALERTS) November 28, 2017

Senator Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, warned against a potential conflict with North Korea "if things don't change."

"If we have to go to war to stop this, we will," Graham told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Tuesday. "If there's a war with North Korea it will be because North Korea brought it on itself, and we're headed to a war if things don't change."

Nuclear-armed North Korea said today it had successfully tested a new intercontinental ballistic missile that put "all of the US continent" within its range.

The North's leader Kim Jong-Un declared the test-launch of the Hwasong-15 missile a success, according to an announcement on state television.

North Korea's state news agency, the KCNA has quoted Kim Jong-un as saying, "We have finally reapplied the great historic cause of completing the state nuclear force, the cause of building a rocket power".

Kim has also reported said that North Korea is a ‘responsible nuclear power and a peace-loving state’.

09:16 According to reports in the media, North Korea, in a special 'announcement' has said that the country has 'begun completion of its nuclear program'.

09:13 According to Reuters, North Korea has said that ICBM Hwasong-15 ICBM was fired at lofted trajectory of 4475 km and it flew 950 km for 53 minutes.

North Korea is expected to make an "important" announcement after it launched an intercontinental ballistic missile earlier today.

In South Korea, TV channels are expected to relay live video from North Korean state-run television.

North Korea launched what officials said was likely an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that flew high into space before landing near Japan on Wednesday, showing Pyongyang may now be able to reach Washington DC with its weapons, according to a Reuters.

The missile test, North Korea's first since mid-September, came a week after U.S. President Donald Trump put North Korea back on a U.S. list of countries it says support terrorism, allowing it to impose more sanctions.

North Korea has conducted dozens of ballistic missile tests under its leader, Kim Jong Un, in defiance of international sanctions. Trump has vowed not to let North Korea develop nuclear missiles that can hit the mainland United States.

Within minutes of the launch, the South Korean joint chiefs of staff announced Seoul had carried out an exercise involving the launch of a “precision strike” missile, signalling that it was primed to respond immediately to any attack from the North, according to a report by South Korea's Yonhap News Agency.

The South's Army, Navy and Air Force staged a 20-minute combined drill near the Northern Limit Line in the East Sea from 3:23 am (local time), according to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).

The exercise involved the Army's missile unit, the Navy's Aegis ship and the Air Force's KF-16 fighter jet, each firing a missile at a simulated target set in consideration of the distance to the site where the North's shot the ballistic missile, the report said.

Within minutes of the launch, the South Korean joint chiefs of staff announced Seoul had carried out an exercise involving the launch of a “precision strike” missile, signalling that it was primed to respond immediately to any attack from the North, according to a report by The Guardian.

Japan had announced that it had detected radio signals suggesting North Korea may be preparing for another ballistic missile launch, although such signals are not unusual and satellite images did not show fresh activity, a Japanese government source had said on Tuesday, according to a Reuters report.

After firing missiles at a pace of about two or three a month since April, North Korean missile launches paused in September, after Pyongyang fired a rocket that passed over Japan’s northern Hokkaido island.

After North Korea missile launch, it's more important than ever to fund our gov't & military! Dems shouldn't hold troop funding hostage for amnesty & illegal immigration. I ran on stopping illegal immigration and won big. They can't now threaten a shutdown to get their demands. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 29, 2017

People watch a television broadcast of a news report on North Korea firing what appeared to be an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that landed close to Japan, in Seoul, South Korea, November 29, 2017. (Reuters/Kim Hong-Ji)

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has condemned the missile launch as “intolerable” and called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), The Guardian has reported.

Within hours of the test, PM Abe and United States President Donald Trump agreed to strengthen their defence capability and to urge North Korea’s main ally China to put more pressure on Kim Jong-un's regime over its weapons programme.

“We will never give in to provocative acts (by North Korea),” Abe said, adding that the international community would put “maximum pressure” on North Korea.

He said Japan had lodged a “strong protest” with the regime, which he accused of ignoring other nations’ “united, strong will for a peaceful solution”. He added: “The international community needs to work in unison to fully implement sanctions.”

“It went higher frankly than any previous shot they’ve taken, a research and development effort on their part to continue building ballistic missiles that can threaten everywhere in the world, basically,” US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said.

The Pentagon said its initial assessment was that an ICBM was launched from Sain Ni in North Korea and travelled about 1,000 km before splashing down in the Sea of Japan. The missile did not pose a threat to the United States, its territories or allies, the Pentagon said.

The South Korean military said the missile, fired on a steep trajectory, reached an altitude of around 4,500 km and flew 960 km before landing in Japan’s exclusive economic zone.

According to media report citing experts, the missile's altitude was 10 times higher than the altitude at which the International Space Station is positioned.

North Korea fired what appeared to be an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that landed close to Japan, officials said, with some scientists cautioning that Washington, DC could now theoretically be within range of Pyongyang’s weapons, reports Reuters. The country fired the missile, its first launch since mid-September, a week after US President Donald Trump put it back on a US list of countries it says support terrorism.

15:02 Despite their disagreements in the recent past over nuclear tests, China is North Korea's go-to friend when it comes to business. North Korea imported 85 percent of its goods worth USD 3.47 billion from China in 2015. In the same year, North Korea exported about 83 percent of goods worth USD 2.83 billion to the manufacturing superpower.

On the global front, India has been a critic of North Korea's nuclear tests and has also criticised its ties with Pakistan and its support for the Kashmir conflict.

The more surprising fact is that India comes right after China as North Korea's second biggest trade partner among all other countries who maintain trade relations with the communist state.

Find out more: India is North Korea's second biggest trade partner after China

14:06 Whether North Korea will launch a nuclear missile attack on the US mainland is best left to its conscience. A potential offensive against the world's most powerful military, however, raises a question: Can the US protect itself from such an occurrence?

Read to find out: Can the US intercept a North Korean missile flying towards it?

North Korea may announce the completion of its nuclear programme within a year, South Korea's unification minister said on Tuesday, as the isolated country is moving more faster than expected in developing its weapons arsenal, according to Reuters.

"Experts think North Korea will take two to three more years but they are developing their nuclear capabilities faster than expected and we cannot rule out the possibility Pyongyang may declare the completion of their nuclear programme in a year," said Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon at a media event in Seoul.

12:29 North Korea's missiles have a range of starting from 150 kilometres to upwards of 10,400 kilometres. Its hunger for power is evident and it does have nuclear weapons in its arsenal. But how dangerous is the threat?

Click here to find out.

North Korea's latest defector, a young soldier known only by his family name Oh, is a quiet, pleasant man who has nightmares about being returned to the North, his surgeon said on Thursday, Reuters has reported.

"He's a pretty nice guy," said lead surgeon John Cook-Jong Lee, who has been operating and caring for the 24-year-old. Oh has become a focus of worldwide attention after he was badly wounded by fellow North Korean soldiers as he scrambled across the border in the Demilitarized Zone that separates North and South on November 13.

Hawaii this week will resume monthly statewide testing of its Cold War-era nuclear attack warning sirens for the first time in about 30 years, in preparation for a potential missile launch from North Korea, emergency management officials said on Monday, according to Reuters.

Wailing air-raid sirens will be sounded for about 60 seconds from more than 400 locations across the central Pacific islands starting at 11:45 a.m. on Friday, in a test that will be repeated on the first business day of each month thereafter, state officials said.

Japan has detected radio signals suggesting North Korea may be preparing for another ballistic missile launch, although such signals are not unusual and satellite images did not show fresh activity, a Japanese government source said on Tuesday, according to a Reuters report.

After firing missiles at a pace of about two or three a month since April, North Korean missile launches paused in September, after Pyongyang fired a rocket that passed over Japan’s northern Hokkaido island.