North Korea carried out last week’s test, despite sanctions.
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Also on Tuesday, South Korean President Park Geun-hye ordered her military to be ready to “finish off” North Korea if it fires a nuclear missile toward South Korea.
A nuclear-capable supersonic bomber (C) of US military flies over the Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, Sept. 13, 2016.
This all leaves the next USA president with two imperfect options in dealing with North Korea’s evolving nuclear capabilities: détente or deterrence.
With two nuclear tests and more than 20 missile launches so far in 2016, the North’s leader Kim Jong-Un has hit a new low, said Sung Kim, the US State Department’s special representative for North Korea policy.
The Associated Press notes that flyovers by US bombers are “fairly common” when tensions flare up on the Korean peninsula.
Pyongyang claimed Friday’s test showed it had a nuclear warhead that could be mounted on ballistic missiles, a possibility that increases fears for U.S. allies in the region and also poses a threat to USA bases in South Korea, Japan and Guam. The United States has flown nuclear-capable supersonic bombers over ally South Korea in a show of forc.
The USFK said that the flybys symbolize the tight teamwork between the South Korean and the USA military forces and their readiness to respond at any time to threats from the North. South Korea had announced in July that it had plans to deploy THAAD to retaliate to the increasing number of nuclear threats from the neighbouring North Korea.
On Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi spoke with South Korea’s Mr Yun by phone, expressing Beijing’s opposition to the North’s latest nuclear test but also reiterating opposition to the planned deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (Thadd) anti-missile system in the South, China’s foreign ministry said.
Last week’s nuclear test, the North’s fifth, was its most powerful test to date.
They noted that the fifth nuclear test on Friday might have surpassed the force of the Nagasaki A-bomb in 1945, and could be the beginning of a more frequent nuclear test cycle.
Lee was quoted by Yonhap as saying, “As we warned multiple times, if North Korea continues its aggressive behaviour and develops nuclear weapons, it will meet retaliatory actions that will shake the very foundation of the regime’s existence”.
China has been infuriated by “freedom of navigation” patrols conducted by the U.S.in the South China Sea, where China is locked in disputes with several Southeast Asian nations.
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Another source well-versed in China-North Korea ties noted that some Chinese officials were furious with Pyongyang for going ahead with the test.
