SOUTH Korean military forces have warned they will destroy North Korea’s capital with “ballistic missiles and high-explosives” if they detect any sign of a nuclear attack.
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Seoul, Washington and their allies vowed to apply more pressure and sanctions after the test, the second this year. The U.N. Security Council is strongly condemning North Korea’s latest nuclear test.
“North Korea has a tunnel where it can conduct an additional nuclear test”, Moon told reporters without providing details.
North Korea was compelled to develop nuclear warheads and nuclear blackmail from the USA is “an engine which pushed North Korea to reach this point”, the statement noted.
Seoul said the magnitude-5.0 seismic event dwarfs the four past quakes associated with North Korean nuclear tests.
North Korea’s Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho departed Pyongyang on Monday for a pair of global meetings, including the U.N. General Assembly in NY, just days after North Korea’s latest nuclear test.
Yonhap said the US military will try again Tuesday to fly two B-1 bombers, capable of carrying 24 atomic weapons, over its main air base near Seoul.
North Korea is emerging as a major challenge for the next USA president, with elections looming in less than two months.
North Korea on Sunday announced that it will continue to develop its nuclear capability despite increasing condemnation by the worldwide community. The U.S. military said some aircraft will be deployed Tuesday but declined to disclose what type or how many planes.
South Korea’s military on Friday revealed it has retaliation plans involving precision-strike missiles and special operations forces for direct attacks on the North’s leadership in the case of a North Korean nuclear attack.
The warning of swift and heavy-handed action comes after North Korea carried out what it said was its fifth, and largest, nuclear test on Friday.
China has said it “firmly opposes” the test, but analysts believe Beijing wants to avoid a collapse of North Korea in order to prevent the balance of power on the Korean peninsula from leaning towards the US.
Some outsiders were struck by the name of the agency that announced the nuclear test, something called the Nuclear Weapons Institute, which hasn’t appeared previously in North Korean media. Six-nation negotiations on dismantling North Korea’s nuclear program in exchange for aid were last held in late 2008 and fell apart in early 2009. The U.N. Security Council imposed tough new measures against the North in March after the fourth nuclear test and a long-range rocket launch.
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“As we’ve made clear, measures to strengthen the national nuclear power in quality and quantity will continue to protect our dignity and right to live from augmented threats of nuclear war from the United States”, KCNA added.
