North Korea claims test of 'missile-ready' nuclear bomb – live

US and South Korean security chiefs hold
emergency talks as hydrogen bomb test puts
Pyongyang closer to developing warhead
Full report: Nuclear test confirmed in
major escalation by Kim Jong-un
What we know so far
Analysis: Trump must now start talks with
North Korea
Nicola Slawson (now) Melissa Davey (earlier)
Sunday 3 September 2017 09.58 BST
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The US is "firmly committed" to defending
Japan
During an emergency call between US
national security adviser HR McMaster
and his Japanese counterpart, McMaster
said that Washington is firmly committed
to defending Japan, including with its
nuclear deterrent, following North Korea’s
latest nuclear test.
The security official made the assurance
during a telephone call to Shotarou
Taniuchi, the director-general of the
Japanese National Security Council,
according to a Japanese government
statement.
Under Japan’s alliance treaty with the US,
Washington has pledged to defend Japan.
It has put Japan under its nuclear
umbrella, meaning it could respond to any
attack on Japan with atomic weapons.
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9.58am 09:58
China’s nuclear safety administration said
it had begun emergency monitoring for
radiation along the border after North
Korea carried out its sixth nuclear test.
The test was widely felt in north-east
China and rocked some cities for as long
as eight seconds, according to reports and
accounts on social media. It was felt as far
away as the city of Changchun, about 250
miles (400km north-west of North Korea’s
test site at Punggye-ri, according to state
broadcaster CCTV.
Witnesses in the Chinese city of Yanji,
which borders North Korea, said they felt
a tremor that lasted several seconds. Some
people said they ran out of their homes in
fear.
Michael Spavor, director of the Paektu
Cultural Exchange, told Reuters:
I was eating brunch just over the
border here in Yanji when we felt the
whole building shake. It lasted for
about five seconds. The city air raid
sirens started going off.
One person wrote on Chinese microblog
Weibo:
I put my underpants on and I just ran,
and when I reached the first floor I
can say I wasn’t the only one running
away with just my underpants on.
Another, as reported by AFP said:
I was lying down and sleeping when
the tremor woke me up. At first, I
thought it was a dream.
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9.46am 09:46
(@XHNews)
Tremor felt in Yanji city on China's border,
as a 6.3-magnitude shallow earthquake
struck North Korea pic.twitter.com/
EpnCnhiSFZ
September 3, 2017
China Xinhua News
Updated at 9.53am BST
Guam homeland security and the office of
civil defence has released a statement via
its Facebook page seeking to reassure
citizens. The statement said the situation
was being closely monitored by security
chiefs.
There are no known immediate
threats assessed for Guam and the
Marianas at this time. The threat level
remains the same.
Guam, a sovereign US territory in the
western Pacific Ocean, is used by the US
as a strategic military base. The small
remote island is within range of North
Korean medium- and long-range missiles
and in August was threatened by North
Korea .
Pyongyang said at the time it was
“carefully examining” a plan to strike
Guam, located 3,400km (2,100 miles)
away, and threatened to create an
“enveloping fire” around the territory.
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9.37am 09:37
Updated at 9.47am BST
The nuclear test will create maximum
embarrassment for Xi Jinping, the Chinese
president, experts have said. Xi was only
hours from opening the summit of the
BRICS nations – the association of five
major emerging national economies:
Brazil, Russia, India, China and South
Africa – when news of the test emerged.
Eva Dou of the Wall Street Journal tweeted
that the opening speech had been upstaged
by North Korea’s actions.
However, Stephen McDonell of the BBC,
said that the president had not mentioned
the nuclear test.
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9.15am 09:15
(@evadou)
Xi Jinping just began his opening speech for
Brics summit...which has been upstaged by
North Korea nuclear test pic.twitter.com/
cm2l2q4bZs
September 3, 2017
Eva Dou
(@StephenMcDonell)
China's President Xi Jinping speaking right
now at the BRICS Summit. So far not a
word about the #NorthKorea nuclear test.
#China pic.twitter.com/L2E9NFCi7z
September 3, 2017
Stephen McDonell
Updated at 9.21am BST
South Korea calls for the "strongest possible"
response
South Korea said North Korea’s defiant
sixth nuclear test should be met with the
“strongest possible” response, including
new UN security council sanctions to
“completely isolate” the country.

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