U.S. weighs options following North Korea nuclear test

President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary James Mattis met with national security officials at the White House Sunday just hours after North Korea detonated its largest-ever nuclear test explosion. North Korea claimed the underground test involved a 100-kiloton hydrogen bomb. When asked by reporters Sunday if he would attack the rogue nation, Trump said, “We’ll see.” Mattis told reporters that the United States does not seek “total annihilation” of North Korea, but added, “We have many options to do so.” Mattis also said the international community is unified in calling for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and that the United States’ commitment to Japan and South Korea is unshakable. South Korea’s response to its northern neighbor’s test included a live-fire exercise on Monday that simulated an attack on the North’s main nuclear test site. The South Korean Defense Ministry also said Monday that North Korea appears to be planning another missile launch to further back up its claims to be able to target the United States with nuclear weapons. Prior to Sunday’s test, the North Korean government released photos showing leader Kim Jong Un observing what appeared to be a thermonuclear weapon intended for an intercontinental ballistic missile. In a series of tweets Sunday morning, President Trump threated to halt all trade with countries doing business with North Korea, which would include China. In response, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters in Beijing on Monday that China regarded as “unacceptable a situation in which on the one hand we work to resolve this issue peacefully but on the other hand our own interests are subject to sanctions and jeopardized. This is neither objective nor fair.” Trump also faulted South Korea for what he called “talk of appeasement,” adding that the North Koreans “only understand one thing.” The United Nations Security Council plans to meet Monday, its second emergency meeting in a week about the North Korean threat, to discuss responses to the nuclear test.