While North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un celebrated his 32nd birthday, the worldwide community scrambled to find common ground on how best to penalise his regime following its shock announcement two days ago that it had successfully tested its first hydrogen bomb.
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It’s important to know specifics about the nuclear test because it will help the rest of the world ascertain how far along North Korea is in the process of developing nuclear weapons, according Joe Cirincione, president of Ploughshares Fund, a foundation that focuses on global security.
While loudspeakers may seem a trivial response to a nuclear test, there is little doubt that the broadcasts enrage the leadership in Pyongyang, which rigorously controls what information North Koreans receive and sees the propaganda as an attempt to undermine its authority. South Korea has aired broadcasts at the North since 1962 to 2004 when they were taken down after an inter-Korean agreement.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged China to end “business as usual” with North Korea after the isolated nation conducted its fourth nuclear test.
In August 2015, South Korea briefly resumed propaganda broadcasts after accusing North Korea of planting land mines that exploded and maimed two South Korean soldiers.
China recently agreed to work with South Korea and Japan to persuade Pyongyang to resume six-party talks on its nuclear program, but that and other efforts by Beijing also have failed to bear fruit.
The UN Security Council has pledged new sanctions against North Korea after its purported hydrogen bomb test on Wednesday.
The test, personally ordered by leader Kim Jong-Un, was of a miniaturized H-bomb, Pyongyang said, adding that it had now joined the ranks of “advanced nuclear nations”.
South Korean companies – mostly small- and medium-sized – make products such as watches and fashion goods with cheap labor from North Korea.
Leader of the Democratic minority, Nancy Pelosi of California, promised Thursday there will be strong bipartisan support for the legislation tabled by the top Republican and Democrat lawmakers on the House Foreign Affairs Committee that would target access to hard currency and other goods and step up inspections of North Korean cargo.
A defense official said Friday that the military will thoroughly carry out propaganda broadcast operations, and it will respond sternly and accordingly if the North’s military engages in artillery provocations against the loudspeakers or nearby areas.
President Barack Obama has spoken to South Korean president Park Geun-hye and Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe and reaffirmed the “unshakeable USA commitment” to the security of the two Asian allies.
North Korea has said it needs a strong nuclear deterrent to keep the United States from invading.
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.
North Koreans are prohibited from listening to K-Pop because they’re only allowed to listen to government-controlled TV and radio stations, but defectors from the North say South Korean music is popular and illicitly smuggled in on USB sticks and DVDs, AP reported.
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But the United Kingdom has urged the country to go easy on the propaganda for fear of needlessly enraging North Korea.
