The White House today said that North Korea could face additional economic sanctions after Pyongyang said it had tested a hydrogen nuclear device, noting it wants to work closely with China to determine the best response. He said that China’s approach to North Korea had failed.
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On Wednesday, North Korea once again drew the world’s attention both to itself and to the devastating threat of nuclear weapons after it announced that it successfully tested a miniaturized hydrogen bomb.
South Korea tries to get under the skin of its archrival with border broadcasts that feature not only criticism of North Korea’s nuclear program, troubled economy and human rights abuses, but also a unique homegrown weapon: K-pop.
It stands to reason that Pyongyang’s “successful test” qualifies as an “abnormal case”, since not only is Seoul prepped to resume its propaganda campaign, but also has it’s military in a state of “full readiness”. Washington sent a pair of nuclear-capable B-2 stealth bombers on a sortie over South Korea in a show of force after North Korea last tested a nuclear device in 2013. The United States is highly unlikely to restore the tactical nuclear missiles it removed from South Korea in 1991, experts said. North Korea’s such test this week reaffirms that sentiment around the world.
“Any escalation in this region, any over-reaction can easily lead to not only a conflict between South and North Korea, but drag China and the United States and Japan into a confrontation”, Cordesman said.
South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported that frontline troops, near 11 sites where propaganda loudspeakers started blaring messages at noon (0300 GMT), were on highest alert.
“As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, the United Kingdom is continuing to play a central role on the issues that matter and is working with allies like Japan to safeguard national security, as well as building our prosperity overseas”.
South Korean and US military leaders also discussed the deployment of USA “strategic assets” in the wake of the North’s test, Seoul’s Defense Ministry said Thursday.
“That (Chinese action plan) has not worked (on North Korea)”, the Secretary of State said.
North Korean government officials told CNN’s Will Ripley, who is in Pyongyang, that they are not afraid of more sanctions; they said that they’ve lived for years with the crippling measures levied against them and are prepared to tighten their belts even more.
Of course, no sane nation wishes to see weapons of mass destruction proliferating, whether in North Korea, Israel, Iran or any other place on earth.
It may take weeks or longer to confirm or refute the North’s claim that it successfully tested a hydrogen bomb, which would mark a major and unanticipated advance for its still-limited nuclear arsenal.
“The initial analysis is not consistent with the claim the regime has made of a successful hydrogen bomb test”, White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters. The statements said the countries “agreed to work together to forge a united and strong global response to North Korea’s latest reckless behavior”.
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The rhetorical battle eased after historic summit talks in 2000 between North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, the father of Kim Jong Un, and South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, but it didn’t stop.
