A South Korean military official told Reuters that Seoul and Washington had discussed the deployment of United States strategic assets on the divided Korean peninsula, but declined to give further details.
Advertisement
Known for his autocratic behavior and controversial comments, the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will celebrate his 33th birthday on Friday in Pyongyang.
Seoul stopped earlier broadcasts after it agreed with Pyongyang in late August on a package of measures aimed at easing animosities that had the rivals threatening war.
The Alaska Earthquake Center says its equipment picked up seismic activity after North Korea’s claimed detonation of a hydrogen bomb Tuesday. Its Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, agreed with US President Barack Obama in a telephone call that a firm global response was needed, the White House said.
According to him, “with friction persisting on a number of issues, including cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property and Chinese island building and militarisation of the South China Sea the Chinese will capitalise on North Korea’s nuclear test to engage in limited cooperation with Washington”.
Seoul also planned to use mobile speakers to broadcast from a small South Korean island just a few kilometers (miles) away from North Korean shores.
The world was shaken by the claim that North Korea possessed an H-bomb, which Kim said was needed to protect the country from “US aggression”.
The U.N. Security Council that has pledged new sanctions against North Korea after its purported hydrogen bomb test on Wednesday.
Although there is still widespread speculation over what device the North actually did test, worldwide experts mostly concur that it could not have been a full-scale thermonuclear device as claimed.
North Korea’s state media have described the latest nuclear test as a triumph and have not mentioned the condemnation coming from other countries, or doubts about whether it really was an explosion of a hydrogen bomb. The North has previously said that it regards the broadcasts as an “act of war”.
The legislation was passed by the House Foreign Affairs Committee last February but it was stalled until this week’s underground nuclear bomb test.
But China has been reluctant to take tougher action, such as completely shutting their shared border, fearful North Korea could collapse in chaos.
Yun pushed Wang to “sternly punish” North Korea over the test, the South Korean foreign ministry said.
North Korea’s state TV announces hours later that scientists have achieved “perfect success” in testing a “miniaturized” H-bomb. Nuclear-tipped missiles could then be used as deterrents and diplomatic bargaining chips – especially against the US, which Pyongyang has long pushed to withdraw its troops from the region and to sign a peace treaty formally ending the Korean War.
Advertisement
Despite their old friendship, China opposes the North’s nuclear programme and has supported sweeping United Nations sanctions on North Korea for its weapons development.
