North Korea: US vows sanctions and will activate Thaad system ‘within days’

USA lawmakers have been seeking a clear White House strategy following repeated North Korean missile tests and fears it could conduct a sixth nuclear bomb test.

Referring to the increased tensions between Washington and Pyongyang on Thursday, China said it approves of a recent statement by the Trump administration which said the White House is still “open to negotiations” to achieve stability and “peaceful denuclearization” on the Korean Peninsula.

“If it flies, it will die”, Admiral Harry Harris told the House armed services committee as the United States turned up the pressure on Pyongyang.

“However, we remain prepared to defend ourselves and our allies”, said a statement by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and other senior officials.

All these developments come after Trump met Chinese President Xi Jinping earlier this month.

“The two sides pledged that in the event of additional strategic provocation by the North to swiftly take punitive measures including a new U.N. Security Council resolution that are unbearable for the North”, the South’s presidential office said after its national security adviser, Kim Kwan-jin, held a phone call with his USA counterpart, H. R. McMaster.

Earlier on Wednesday, North Korea’s Foreign Ministry called USA attempts to make Pyongyang give up its nuclear weapons through military threats and sanctions “a wild dream” and like “sweeping the sea with a broom”.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) told the Washington Post, “There was very little, if anything new” in the meeting, adding, “I remain mystified about why the entire Senate had to be taken over to the White House rather than conducting it here”.

Senator Cory Gardner, a Colorado republican, told reporters a military strike should be well down the administration’s list of alternatives.

While a diplomatic solution is clearly preferred, the U.S. Navy strike group deployed to the Korean Peninsula is now just a few days away, and the Pentagon says it has military plans ready as a last option.

The US was working with allies in Asia to further isolate North Korea economically and block imports used in its nuclear programme, according to a Trump administration official who briefed reporters on Wednesday.

He also echoed Trump’s accusation that Beijing should be doing more to reign in North Korea, calling China’s opposition to THAAD, and the penalizing of South Korean companies over the issue, “preposterous, “reports CNN“. The USS Carl Vinson strike group, which has positioned itself in the Philippine Sea, can now reach North Korea in a two-hour flight, he said.

North Korea’s United Nations Mission said if “total war” broke out with the United States it would respond with nuclear options.

“China uses cyber espionage pretty regularly when Chinese interests are at stake to better understand facts on the ground”, Hultquist said. “Because these are things that Wall Street would reject”.

The Air Force Strike Command also announced that a USA long-range nuclear missile was test fired from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, on Wednesday.

Harris said that the visit of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who made South Korea and Japan his first worldwide trip, and Vice President Mike Pence sends the “right signal” to allies in the region. He also said he’s been skeptical of China’s willingness to exert its influence over North Korea and convince Pyongyang to pull back from the brink.

Inside Story: Will the United States try to denuclearise North Korea by force?

South Korea on Wednesday moved parts of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system to its deployment site on a golf course about 250 km (155 miles) south of the capital, Seoul, signalling faster installation.