North Korea is capable of detonating another nuclear device anytime at one of its unused tunne.
Advertisement
President Barack Obama issued a condemnation, calling North Korea’s actions “provocative and destabilizing”, and assured USA allies in the region of Washington’s “unshakable commitment” to their defense.
Spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a press conference late Tuesday that China viewed as counterproductive any unilateral action based on one’s self-interest, which will not help resolve security concerns “but will only aggravate the tension, complicate the issue, and make the situation more difficult”.
South Korea and the USA have insisted that the North should give up its nuclear weapons before resuming dialogue, but there is speculation that China and Russian Federation might push for talks without pre-conditions. The latest test coincided with the 68th anniversary of North Korea’s founding last Friday.
Three times in the last two months, the United States has flown B-1 bombers, equipped with the latest non-nuclear cruise missiles, on missions in Europe and Asia meant to show adversaries as well as allies what one USA commander called “an unshakable commitment”.
The U.S. response to this situation was the deployment of two supersonic bombers #B-1B that took off from the United States base at Guam and were then escorted by two Japan Air Self Defense Force aircraft before a “hand-off” to South Korean jets.
The United States allegedly forward-deployed several B-1Bs to Andersen base in Guam in early August from Ellsworth air base in South Dakota to replace B-52 strategic bombers. The divided peninsula remains technically at war after the 1950-53 conflict ended with an armistice instead of a peace treaty.
The U.S. has about 28,500 servicemembers stationed in South Korea.
It is the first time the B-1s, which have the largest payload of any USA bomber, have been part of the Pacific bomber force in a decade.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff estimated it was Korea’s largest-ever nuclear test, Elise reports.
U.S. B-1B strategic bombers fly over South Korea Tuesday. Friday’s test was the North’s most powerful to date, and its claim to have used “standardised” warheads has sparked worries it was making headway in its push to develop small and sophisticated warheads to be topped on missiles.
North Korea’s claim to have used “standardized” warheads in the detonation makes some outsiders worry that it is making headway in its push to develop small, sophisticated warheads that can be mounted on missiles that can reach the U.S. mainland.
North Korea is deliberately and methodically preparing to fight and win a limited nuclear war against the US and its allies in the Korean peninsula. Protracted debates over strengthening United Nations-backed sanctions also raise questions over containing Pyongyang in the short run. Instead, the regime has stepped up the pace of missile tests in recent months with increasing success, apparently learning from its failures.
Global diplomatic efforts to rid the North of its bombs have been stalled since the last round of meetings in late 2008.
The talks with Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov saw him reportedly admit that Moscow “shares concerns with the worldwide community” over last Friday’s nuclear test and would “take active part in discussions to adopt a new resolution”.
Moon refused to say what specific evidence pointed to another possible nuclear test.
Back to back nuclear tests by this secretive state has increased the sucrity imbalance in the Korean peninsula.
“The United States and the ROK are taking actions every day to strengthen our alliance and respond to North Korea’s continued aggressive behaviour”, Gen Brooks added.
Advertisement
South Korea has said it has a plan to annihilate the North Korean capital if it shows any signs of mounting a nuclear attack.
