China, Russia begin drills near NKorea

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China and Russia have begun naval drills near North Korea amid continuing tensions over the isolated state's nuclear ambitions and ahead of a United Nations General Assembly meeting where US President Donald Trump will address the 193-member body for the first time. North Korea launched a missile over Japan last Friday, its second in the past three weeks, and conducted its sixth and by far most powerful nuclear test on September 3, in defiance of international pressure.

The official Xinhua news agency said the joint exercises will take place between Peter the Great Bay, just outside of the Russian far eastern port of Vladivostok, not far from the Russia-North Korea border, and into the southern part of the Sea of Okhotsk, to the north of Japan. The drills are the second part of China-Russian naval exercises this year, the first part of which took place in the Baltic in July. The report did not directly link the drills to current tensions over North Korea.

A week ago, the 15-member UN Security Council unanimously adopted its ninth sanctions resolution since 2006 over North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programs. North Korean diplomats will have a front-row seat in the UN General Assembly for Trump's speech on Tuesday morning, which will touch on the escalating crisis that has seen Trump and Pyongyang trade threats of military action. US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said on Sunday the UN Security Council has run out of options on containing North Korea's nuclear program and the United States may have to turn the matter over to the Pentagon.