US President Donald Trump’s warning to North Korea and Pyongyang’s threat of possible armed retaliation drove investors out of stocks and other risky assets and into textbook safe havens like gold and US debt paper.

A pre-emptive, surgical strike against Kim Jong Un is risky, but his regime will soon have a nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile, say Isabel Reynolds and Enda Curran.

China is worried about a US missile defence system deployed in South Korea to head off an attack by the North. What is at stake, asks David Tweed.

There has been little else but talk about North Korea’s weapons programme for almost quarter of a century. That may not be true for much longer, says Michael Mandelbaum

Western scientists doubt new claims of success, but each test will increase the country’s knowledge, until it has a long-range warhead, says Sharon Squassoni

South Korea has said it will retaliate for a North Korean nuclear test by resuming cross-border propaganda broadcasts which Pyongyang considers an act of war.

The UN Security Council has strongly condemned North Korea's nuclear test and is pledging to pursue new sanctions.

North Korea has trumpeted its first hydrogen bomb test as a "H-bomb of justice", but the announcement today has been met with widespread scepticism.

Half a dozen ominous new North Korean missiles showcased at a lavish military parade were clumsy fakes, according to analysts.

The United Nations Security Council is expected to approve tough new sanctions against North Korea today.

Western powers have reached agreement with North Korea’s key allies on a United Nations proposal that would impose tough new sanctions on the reclusive communist nation’s weapons exports and allow inspections of suspect cargo in ports and on the high seas.

North Korea appears to be preparing to test an advanced missile designed to reach the United States, a US official said, ratcheting up tensions after its second nuclear blast.

North Korea has moved its most advanced long-range missile to a new launch site and has banned ships from the waters off its west coast until the end of July, it was reported today.

The US said today North Korea may be planning more long-range missile launches as the communist nation threatened to retaliate against punitive United Nations sanctions.

North Korea defiantly test-fired another short-range missile today and warned it could take “self-defence” over tough sanctions being considered by the UN Security Council.

North Korea test-fired another short-range missile off its east coast today.

North Korea today vowed to take further “self-defence” measures if provoked by the UN Security Council, which is discussing how to punish the regime for its nuclear test.

Chinese fishing boats were pulling out of the Yellow Sea possibly in fear of military clashes between North and South Korea, it was reported today.

US and South Korean warships were today put on heightened alert after North Korea declared that it felt no longer bound to the truce that halted fighting in the Korean War.

South Korean and US troops facing North Korea boosted their alert level to the highest category since 2006 today.

North Korea heightened tensions over its nuclear weapons programme today with a tirade against Western criticism and a threat of war against South Korea.

US spy satellites have detected signs that North Korea has restarted its nuclear plant, it was reported today.

North Korea faced international condemnation and calls for fresh sanctions tonight following the “provocative” launch of two short-range missiles and an underground nuclear test.

South Korea said today it would join a US-led initiative to intercept ships suspected of spreading weapons of mass destruction, as the United Nations swiftly condemned North Korea for testing a powerful nuclear bomb.

The United Nations Security Council was this evening holding an emergency meeting to consider further possible sanctions against North Korea, after the secretive Communist state conducted a second nuclear weapons test.

North Korea claimed it carried out a provocative underground nuclear test today in the escalating international stand-off over its rogue nuclear and missile programmes.

The European Union and Japan condemned North Korea’s nuclear test today as a violation of UN sanctions.