Outside experts agree, saying the blast was more consistent with North Korea’s previous nuclear test, in 2013.
Advertisement
South Korea has cast fresh doubt on the tubby tyrant’s brags that his nation successfully tested an H-bomb.
In a separate development Vice Admiral Joseph Aucoin, commander of the USA 7th Fleet based in Yokosuka, Japan, said the Navy was watching North Korea closely.
In a statement, North Korea’s state news agency said it will not give up its nuclear programme as long as the United States maintained what it called “its stance of aggression”.
Yonhap also said new initiatives on cooperation with North Korea will be pushed back.
In light of Pyongyang’s alleged nuclear test on Wednesday, the North Korea has presumably over-stepped the mark on the South’s scale of “abnormality”.
“Our military is at a state of full readiness, and if North Korea wages provocation, there will be firm punishment”.
“We urge South Korea to exercise restraint”, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said during a visit to Japan, after the South resumed the broadcasts.
Joseph DeThomas, a former ambassador and deputy assistant secretary of state for non-proliferation, told a Washington audience that beyond sanctions, the West needs to begin a longterm effort to encourage China to change how it deals with North Korea.
The park’s operation won’t likely be affected much as the restriction will apply to clients, potential buyers and service providers from South Korea, rather than managers who commute to work with North Korean laborers. Diplomats said that could mean an expansion of sanctions, although major powers might baulk at an all-out economic offensive. He said North Korea has had trouble “mastering even the basics of a fission weapon”, so it’s a big leap to think it could create an even more complicated hydrogen bomb.
South Korea, which has grown increasingly close to China in recent years, also said its foreign minister would speak with his Chinese counterpart later today.
Analysis of seismic waves created by North Korea’s fourth nuclear test on Wednesday shows they were nearly identical to those generated in its last test, according to an analyst, undermining its claim to have tested a hydrogen bomb.
The North’s claim of a successful test drew extreme scepticism overseas.
Just last August, Seoul resumed its anti-Kim Jong-un broadcast for the first time in 11 years on August 10th, following the North’s landmine attack and subsequent exchange of artillery fire.
The country added that it would continue to strengthen its nuclear programme in order to protect itself against the hostile policies of the United States.
Hydrogen bombs are more powerful and technologically advanced than atomic weapons, using fusion – the merging of atoms – to unleash massive amounts of energy. It could be several weeks before a conclusive determination is made.
Advertisement
As of Thursday morning, “sniffer” planes and other sensors had yet to detect any evidence, such as particles in the air, that would substantiate the North Korean assertion that it had set off an H-Bomb, a United States government source said.
