US warns North Korea it will be ‘utterly destroyed’ if war breaks out

The United States has warned the North Korean leadership that it would be "utterly destroyed" if war were to break out, after Pyongyang test fired its most advanced intercontinental ballistic missile, putting the US mainland within range.

The Trump administration has repeatedly said all options were on the table in dealing with North Korea’s ballistic and nuclear weapons programme, including military ones, but that it still prefers a diplomatic option.

Still, speaking at an emergency UN Security Council meeting, US ambassador Nikki Haley warned: "We have never sought war with North Korea, and still today we do not seek it. If war does come, it will be because of continued acts of aggression like we witnessed yesterday ... And if war comes, make no mistake, the North Korean regime will be utterly destroyed."

Ms Haley said the United States has asked China to cut off oil supply to North Korea, a drastic step that Beijing – the North's sole major trading partner – has so far refrained from doing.

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Sanctions

Mr Trump spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping earlier on Wednesday and said more sanctions on Pyongyang would be enforced. “Just spoke to President Xi Jinping of China concerning the provocative actions of North Korea. Additional major sanctions will be imposed on North Korea today. This situation will be handled!” Mr Trump wrote on Twitter.

In a speech in Missouri about taxes, Mr Trump, who has traded insults with the North in the past, referred to Mr Kim with a derisive nickname. “Little Rocket Man. He is a sick puppy,” the US president said.

The latest missile was fired a week after Trump put North Korea back on a US list of countries it says support terrorism, allowing it to impose more sanctions. United Nations political affairs chief Jeffrey Feltman met with North Korea’s Ambassador Ja Song Nam on Wednesday to tell him Pyongyang must “desist from taking any further destabilising steps”.

French president Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday he was counting on UN Security Council members China and Russia to step up sanctions on North Korea. “I am counting a lot in particular on China and Russia in order to take the most difficult and effective sanctions,” Mr Macron told France 24 television.

North Korea, which conducted its sixth and largest nuclear bomb test in September, has tested dozens of ballistic missiles under Mr Kim’s leadership in defiance of international sanctions.

Altitude

North Korea said the new missile soared to an altitude of about 4,475km – more than 10 times the height of the International Space Station – and flew 950km during its 53-minute flight.

It flew higher and longer than any North Korean missile before, landing in the sea near Japan. Experts said the new "Hwasong-15" missile theoretically gave North Korea the ability to hit the United States, including the east coast, although it was not clear whether it could carry a nuclear weapon.

North Korean state media said the missile was launched from a newly developed vehicle and that the warhead could withstand the pressure of re-entering the atmosphere, which if confirmed would be an important technical advance.

Mr Kim personally guided the test and said the new launcher was “impeccable”, state media said. He described the new vehicle as a “breakthrough”.

North Korea also described itself as a “responsible nuclear power”, saying its strategic weapons were developed to defend itself from “the US imperialists’ nuclear blackmail policy and nuclear threat”. – Reuters