South Korea, which has grown increasingly close to China in recent years, also said its foreign minister would speak with his Chinese counterpart later on Friday.
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The cross-border broadcasts blare out an eclectic mix of everything from K-pop and weather forecasts to snippets of news and critiques of the North Korean regime.
The propaganda broadcasts “are certain to infuriate authoritarian Pyongyang because they are meant to raise questions in North Korean minds about the infallibility of the ruling Kim family”, The Associated Press reports. After days of negotiations, the countries reached a deal in which South Korea vowed to halt the broadcasts unless an extraordinary situation occurred.
On the streets of Seoul, resident Kim Yoon-ki says he supports resuming the anti-North propaganda. Blasted from 30-foot tall banks of loudspeakers across the border, they can penetrate more than 15 miles into North Korea.
“But we have to be bigger than the North Koreans and I would urge South Korea and other like-minded countries in the region to exercise restraint”, he added.
“The DPRK’s access to H-bomb of justice… is the legitimate right of a sovereign state for self-defense and a very just step no one can slander”, the government statement continued.
Born on January 8, 1983 in Pyongyang in North Korea, Un took the office Marshal of the Republic in 2011 from his predecessor Kim Jong-il, who passed away on December 28, 2011.
The UN Security Council has pledged new sanctions against North Korea after its purported hydrogen bomb test on Wednesday.
The U.S. State Department confirmed North Korea had conducted a nuclear test but the Obama administration disputed the hydrogen bomb claim.
Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters in Washington that he spoke by phone Thursday with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
“There is no hope to put an end to the North Korean nuclear conundrum if the U.S., South Korea and Japan do not change their policies toward Pyongyang”, it said.
Later today, South Korea is due to announce the results of its first round of investigations of samples collected from sea operations to see if radioactive elements leaked from the North’s test. B-2 and B-52 bombers are capable of delivering nuclear weapons.
The test drew widespread criticism from many countries and led the U.N. Security Council to hold a special session to discuss new sanctions on Pyongyang.
US nuclear experts have expressed doubts about North Korea’s claims, saying its yield is too low to believe that such an advanced bomb, way more powerful than conventional nuclear weapons, has been detonated.
The nuclear test “represents a grave challenge to global efforts for nuclear non-proliferation”.
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This is the fourth such test by North Korea since 2006, while Washington has made it clear it will not engage with the North until it suspends or even reverses its nuclear and missile programs.
