South Korea has said it has a plan to annihilate the North Korean capital of Pyongyang if it shows any signs of mounting a nuclear attack, according to reports from Seoul.
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The group is the first known South Korean think tank on the nuclear armament issue whose launch comes amid North Korea’s accelerating nuclear and missile threats.
The US threatened unilateral sanctions on Sunday following a US special envoy meeting with Japanese officials in the wake of the test.
And South Korea’s U.S. envoy Sung Kim said his country would consider both bilateral and trilateral sanctions.
The US and Japan are seeking “the strongest possible” measure to be taken against North Korea after its latest and most powerful nuclear test, a top US envoy has said.
The U.N. Security Council denounced North Korea’s decision to carry out the test and said it would begin work immediately on a resolution.
“This is a critical moment to solve the crisis on the Korean Peninsula, so [I predict] the United Nations will adopt tougher sanctions against North Korea than ever before”, he said.
“Assessment by South Korean and US intelligence is that the North is always ready for an additional nuclear test in the Punggye-ri area”, South Korean Defence Ministry spokesman Moon Sang-gyun told a news briefing.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is pictured during a test-fire of strategic submarine-launched ballistic missile in this undated photo released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang August 25, 2016.
Yonhap did not indicate what activities had been detected at the test site in the northeast of the country, the venue for all five nuclear tests.
North Korea conducted its latest test – the second this year – last Friday, drawing condemnation from the U.S., Japan and South Korea.
In a report submitted to the National Assembly, the South’s Ministry of National Defense vowed to “maximize” its psychological warfare against Pyongyang, in part by installing more loud speakers on the South-North border, which are used to blast bouncy K-pop songs and announcements critical of the North Korean regime. The collaborative approach would have been effective but regrettably the United States preferred to hurl threats on North Korea aggravating the situation further.
With dissenting voices growing louder, the South’s government is under pressure to consider a nuclear response. The Rodong is a North Korean medium-range missile tested earlier this week that can fire a 1 tonne (1,100 lb) warhead up to 2,000 km (1,250 miles).
North Korea’s nuclear capacities have raised calls among some South Korean conservatives for Seoul’s own nuclear weapons development to deal with North Korea’s nuclear programs.
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The explosive yield of Friday’s test, a magnitude 5.3 seismic event, was estimated at 10 kilotons.
