South Korean President Park Geun-hye said Kim’s nuclear test, if confirmed, “could potentially shake up the security landscape of northeast Asia and fundamentally change the nature of the North Korean nuclear threat”.
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The series of talks between South Korea’s top nuclear envoy and those of four other members of the six-party talks, namely the United States, China, Japan and Russian Federation, came amid mounting calls to take tougher sanctions against North Korea.
Though North Korea is posturing itself as a hydrogen bomb powerhouse and country capable of defending itself from an attack by the United States, many analysts from the USA and South Korea say that Kim Jong-un is simply blowing smoke, and that the hydrogen bomb does not have the capabilities that the country is describing.
North Korea’s U.N. mission claimed Wednesday that its successful nuclear bomb test showed that it could now “wipe out” the United States, as the U.N. Security Council grappled with a response to the underground blast.
“An additional North Korean provocation can take place any time”, Park said, adding that Seoul and Washington were discussing the transfer of further United States “strategic assets” to the peninsula.
Responding to the North’s bomb test, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged China, the North’s only major ally and biggest aid provider, to end “business as usual” with North Korea.
“I trust China, as a permanent member of the Security Council, will play a necessary role”, she told a televised news conference. “Although (it) appears to eject successfully… we think that a catastrophic failure occurred at ignition”, said Catherine Dill, a research associate at the centre. They say the regime has finally blown it once again after the repetitive talks about the nuclear test. People in the markets also argue, ‘The government should have spent the money on food supplies.
Wednesday’s incident comes amid increased tensions between the rival nations after North Korea claimed it had carried out its fourth nuclear test last Wednesday, angering Western powers and alarming the country’s neighbour. “There could be firing by the North Koreans, which then could prompt South Koreans to retaliate very quickly”, she said. It means, for example, that if North Korea launches a missile, USA and Japanese forces will be looking at the same radar data on their computer screens and sharing information instantly so the threat can be tracked and engaged with greater accuracy. Still, such leafleting by the North is rare, though South Korean activists occasionally send anti-Pyongyang leaflets in balloons across the border.
“These will be the mobile launch tractors that the North has for its tactical medium-range ballistic missiles, which can reach targets in South Korea and Japan”, he said.
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Many Canadians remain keenly aware of the casualties among Canadian troops during the 1950-53 conflict launched by North Korea against South Korea.
