U.S. President Donald Trump says the United States may push for a trade embargo against any country which does business with North Korea.
“The United States is considering, in addition to other options, stopping all trade with any country doing business with North Korea,” the U.S. president wrote.
He also announced he was set to sit down with several advisers including White House Chief of Staff General John Kelly and Defense Secretary James Mattis.
Earlier Sunday, Trump also sent another volley of tweets in which he said the nation’s “words and actions continue to be very hostile and dangerous to the United States.”
North Korea said early Sunday morning that it developed a nuclear weapon with “great destructive power,” and claims to have successfully tested the hydrogen bomb designed to be loaded onto an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
According to a White House statement, Trump and his national security team will meet Sunday to discuss the nuclear test.
The report from the North Korean state news agency KCNA comes following Pyongyang’s launch of two ICMB missiles in July that could potentially reach the United States. This latest test marks the most powerful nuclear test by the rogue nation to date, and prompted the U.N. nuclear watchdog to express grave concern.
Trump also tweeted that North Korea “has become a great threat and embarrassment to China, which is trying to help but with little success.”
China is by far the North’s biggest ally.
Furthermore, Trump tweeted that South Korea will not be successful in attempts to appease North Korea, as “they only understand one thing.”
Trump said Saturday that his administration is beginning the process to withdraw the United States from its free trade agreement with South Korea, The Hill reports. The withdrawal could happen as early as Tuesday.
Leaders from around the world quickly condemned the test and called for tougher sanctions on North Korea.
The European Union’s foreign policy chief says North Korea’s sixth nuclear test represents a “major provocation” and “a grave threat to regional and international security.”
High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission, Federica Mogherini, also said in a statement that Pyongyang “must abandon its nuclear, weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner and immediately cease all related activities.”
— With files from Global News’ Kevin Nielsen and the Associated Press.
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