North Korea suggests testing a hydrogen bomb in the Pacific after Kim Jong Un calls Trump 'mentally deranged'

• David Choi
 

• 16h
• 23,303
 

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. KCNA via Reuters

• North Korean leader Kim Jong Un personally fired back at President Donald Trump, calling him a "mentally deranged US dotard."
• Kim's statement follows a meeting between Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in.
• Trump moved to slap more sanctions against North Korea after his first address at the UN.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un launched a salvo of threats aimed at President Donald Trump on Thursday, following Trump's address at the UN General Assembly in which he called Kim Jong Un "Rocket Man" and admonished North Korea for its continued provocations.

Korean Central News Agency, North Korea's state-sanctioned news organization, released the statement, a series of aggressive statements and metaphors that were said to have been personally delivered by Kim.

"The speech made by the US president ... on the UN arena in the prevailing serious circumstance, in which the situation on the Korean Peninsula has been rendered tense as never before and is inching closer to a touch-and-go state, is arousing worldwide concern," Kim's statement said.

"But, far from making remarks of any persuasive power that can be viewed to be helpful to defusing tension, he made unprecedented rude nonsense one has never heard from any of his predecessors," the statement continued. "A frightened dog barks louder."

North Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs Ri Yong Ho later said his country may consider testing a hydrogen bomb in the Pacific Ocean, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported.

"It could be the most powerful detonation of an H-bomb in the Pacific," Ri said. "We have no idea about what actions could be taken as it will be ordered by leader Kim Jong Un."

Trump met with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Thursday, with Trump moving to impose new sanctions against North Korea.

On Tuesday, during his first appearance before the UN General Assembly, Trump said Kim was "on a suicide mission" and asserted that if North Korea continued its provocations, the US would "have no choice but to totally destroy" the country.

President Donald Trump addressing the 72nd United Nations General Assembly at the UN headquarters in New York. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz

"If this is not twisted enough, now North Korea's reckless pursuit of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles threatens the entire world with unthinkable loss of human life," Trump said at the UN on Tuesday. "It is an outrage that some nations would not only trade with such a regime but would arm, supply, and financially support a country that imperils the world with nuclear conflict."

North Korea continued to flex its military power with another missile test last week. The missile flew over Hokkaido, Japan, forcing the country to issue public alerts for its residents. The test also came less than two weeks after North Korea tested what it said was a hydrogen bomb, which if true would be a massive boost for its weapons program.

The UN Security Council delivered sanctions against the country after that test, imposing a banon North Korea's textile exports and caps on crude-oil exports to North Korea. The sanctions, however, appeared to have little effect on Kim.

"Whatever Trump might have expected, he will face results beyond his expectation," Kim's statement continued Thursday. "I will surely and definitely tame the mentally deranged US dotard with fire."

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UBS SURVEY: 15% of eurozone companies plan to move everyone out of the UK after Brexit

• Will Martin
 

• Sep. 21, 2017, 5:13 AM
• 723
 

Taber Andrew Bain

LONDON — As many as 15% of EU companies with operations in Britain plan to move all of their UK staff out of the country after Brexit, according to a new survey by Swiss banking giant UBS.

UBS' latest Evidence Lab survey, which surveyed senior figures in 1,200 major corporations across the eurozone, found that almost half have plans to shift a majority of the British staff out of the country, with 28% reporting that they will remove "a large amount" of capacity.

A further 29% plan to move a "small amount" out of Britain.

Beneficiaries of these moves will be countries in the eurozone, the report broadly showed.

The report said: "46% of the companies in our survey said that, should they reduce capacity in the UK and move it elsewhere, this would go to the Eurozone; another 32% referred to EU countries in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and 29% to other EU countries (not Eurozone or CEE)."

While UBS' survey is a broad one, focusing on "corporates" — effectively all large companies — fears about shifting staff and operations are most acute in the financial services sector. That's because it relies so heavily on the so-called financial passport.

The passport allows banks with a base in the UK to sell products and services to customers and financial markets across the EU, but relies entirely on membership of the European Single Market, something that Britain is highly unlikely to keep.

A recent poll of financial firms by Reuters showed that roughly 10,000 workers could leave the capital as a result of Brexit, with numerous banks already confirming that they will shift staff to other EU financial centres, including Dublin, Frankfurt and Paris.

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More: UBS Brexit City of London Eurozone economy