Donald Trump summons entire Senate to WH briefing on North Korea

The entire U.S. Senate will go to the White House on Wednesday to be briefed by senior administration officials about the brewing confrontation with North Korea. The unusual briefing underlines the urgency with which the Trump administration is treating the threat posed by Pyongyang's continuing development of nuclear weapons and missile technology, The Guardian reports.

It follows a lunch meeting Trump held with ambassadors from UN member states on the security council on Monday where he emphasized U.S. resolve to stop North Korea's progress.

On Friday the US secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, is due to chair a security council foreign ministers' meeting on the issue in New York, at which the state department said he would call once more for the full implementation of existing UN sanctions or new measures in the event of further nuclear or missile tests. Senators are to be briefed by the defense secretary, James Mattis, and Tillerson on Wednesday.

Officials said the briefing would take place in the auditorium of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, which can be adapted for such an event, as reported by the Guardian. Meanwhile, a sixth North Korean nuclear test has been anticipated for some months now. Some observers have speculated it could be conducted on Tuesday, on the anniversary of the founding of the North Korean armed forces.

-ANI