“In other words, the North’s capital city will be reduced to ashes and removed from the map”, the source told the news agency.
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A source told the South Korean news agency that every part of the DPRK capital “will be completely destroyed by ballistic missiles and high-explosive shells”.
“We will be working very closely in the security council and beyond to come up with the strongest possible measure against North Korea’s latest actions”, said the U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, Sung Kim, on Sunday.
“The KMPR is the utmost operation concept the military can have in the absence of its own nuclear weapons”, the source added.
After its fourth test in March, sanctions were toughened to include North Korea’s mineral trade and stricter banking restrictions.
North Korea watchers in Washington are saying that the September 9th nuclear detonation by North Korea is a logical continuation of the 2011 reports in The Washington Post which stated that A.Q. Khan made available documents that supported his claim that he personally transferred more than three million US Dollars in payments by North Korea to officers in the Pakistan Army.
The US and Japan are seeking “the strongest possible” measure to be taken against North Korea after its latest and most powerful nuclear test, a top US envoy has said.
Yonhap has close ties to South Korea’s government and is publicly funded.
Analysts estimate that the country possesses several nuclear warheads, although its ability to make them small enough to fit on a ballistic missile has been called into question.
In a meeting in Seoul on Saturday, South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se said Friday’s test showed North Korea’s nuclear capacity had reached a “considerable level”.
If anything Japan and South Korea need to question the “fountain head” for this technology which has brought the world to this point where a virtual rogue state now has nuclear weapons, said US analysts, adding that “even the Pakistani President in 2006, General Pervez Musharraf, had accused A.Q. Khan of profiting from nuclear related commerce but did nothing to punish other members of the Pakistani establishment who were involved in nuclear trade with North Korea”.
“The DPRK’s persisting nuclear weapon development and nuclear tests run counter to the expectations of the global community, escalate tension on the peninsula and is not conducive to the peace and stability there”, Xinhua quoted Zhang as saying.
In mid-August, Seoul announced its intention to significantly boost its arsenal of missiles to counter the growing military threat from North Korea.
China, which believes the system’s radar could also be used to track its own defences, objected strongly. Its leader, Xi Jinping, argued that “mishandling” the issue could intensify regional disputes when he met Park on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hangzhou on Monday.
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They also voiced doubts over Thaad’s effectiveness against the North’s military threats.
