The North’s boast of a technologically game-changing nuclear test defies both tough worldwide sanctions and long-standing diplomatic pressure to curb its nuclear ambitions.
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Some U.S. experts even evaluate the force to be over 20 kilotons at most.
“Kim Jong-un does not listen to anything from the worldwide community so he can hold onto power, and this leads us to view his mental state as uncontrollable”, she said.
The blast at the Punggye-ri nuclear site was the North’s fifth and most powerful yet at 10 kilotons. “Anything that raises tension isn’t good news for land prices here, but otherwise our life will be the same and we are not really afraid”, said Noh Seung-eok, who farms rice in Paju, north of Seoul and just minutes from the frontier.
A USA official told CNN that it looked like a nuclear test but confirmation would be dependent on seismic readings, location of the seismic event and whether it can be matched to an underground test site. Washington stations more than 28,000 troops in South Korea as a buttress against any North Korean aggression.
U.S. President Barack Obama condemned North Korea’s nuclear test on Friday as a “grave threat” to regional security and worldwide peace and said he would work with U.S. partners on new sanctions against Pyongyang.
Preliminary data collected by the Vienna-based Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), which monitors nuclear tests around the world, indicates the magnitude-around 5-of the seismic event detected in North Korea on Friday was greater than a previous one in January.
North Korea said there was no radioactive material leaked, but the explosion put the region on edge. Japanese planes began to collect air samples from national air space to analyze possible radioactive materials. Japan has sent four jets to test for radiation.
“The only thing that the Kim Jong Un regime can gain from the nuclear tests is stronger sanctions from the global community and its isolation”.
“We are now analyzing whether it was a successful test”, a South Korean defense ministry official told CNN. A four.seven magnitude natural disaster was detected at Punggye-ri with an estimated yield of three to four kilotons, a significant jump from an estimated explosive force of less than one kiloton in 2006.
North Korea’s launch on Friday of its fifth and biggest nuclear test also drew condemnation from its main ally, China. Comparing with the 4th test which was conducted in January this year, how is this test different and what can we infer from it? Not only has the range of the weapons successfully tested jumped significantly, but the country is working to flawless new platforms for launching them – submarines and mobile launchers. Not only has the range of the weapons jumped significantly, but the country is working to flawless new platforms for launching them – submarines and mobile launchers – giving the North greater ability to threaten the tens of thousands of USA troops stationed throughout Asia. The North is already one of the most heavily sanctioned places on Earth, and many question whether the penalties work. For a growing number of South Koreans, especially younger people, the notion of an armed confrontation triggered by an attack by North Korea has appeared increasingly remote over the years as the wealthy, democratic South and impoverished, isolated North have grown apart.
India’s concern stems from suspected secret cooperation between Pakistan and North Korea on missile technology.
“It seems that the North has made a decision to play an “end game” where they push things to see how far they can go”. “This has definitely put on a higher level (the North’s) technology of mounting nuclear warheads on ballistic rockets”. Some analysts said the country needed only a couple of more test explosions before acquiring such a warhead.
Under 32-year-old dictator Kim Jong Un, North Korea has accelerated the development of its nuclear and missile programs, despite United Nations sanctions that were tightened in March and have further isolated the impoverished country.
Its continued testing in defiance of sanctions presents a challenge to Obama in the final months of his presidency and could become a factor in the US presidential election in November, and a headache to be inherited by whoever wins. Japan called North Korea an “outlaw nation”. And last month, a missile from a North Korean submarine flew about 500 kilometers (310 miles), the longest distance achieved by the North for such a weapon. This anxious many South Koreans because submarine-based missiles are harder to detect before launch than land-based weapons.
That is despite the North’s steady arms buildup, and South Korea’s requirement that every male serve in the military for a term that is now 21 months. Could we see it as a demonstration that North Korea’s nuclear capability has become a real threat?
North Korea blames the United States and South Korea for its nuclear program, saying long-running “hostility” from Seoul and Washington to its government makes the development crucial for the small country’s survival.
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The Korean Peninsula remains technically at war, as the 1950-53 conflict ended in an armistice. Tens of thousands more are in nearby Japan.
