The device exploded inside an underground facility on Wednesday was the fourth such test by Pyongyang since 2006, although experts have cast doubt on claims by Pyongyang that it was a hydrogen bomb, a more powerful type of nuclear weapon.
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South Korean President Park Geun-hye spoke to US President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday to build consensus on new United National Security Council sanctions against North Korea.
“Jealous of the successful test of our first H-bomb, the USA and its followers are driving the situation to the brink of war, by saying they have resumed psychological broadcasts and brought in strategic bombers”, Kim Ki Nam, head of the ruling Workers’ Party propaganda department, said at Friday’s rally. He said there had been constant consultations on North Korea, including on his first trip to China after he became the top US diplomat in 2013.
The South’s Yonhap news agency said Seoul had deployed missiles, artillery and other weapons systems near the border to swiftly deal with any possible North Korean provocation, but the ministry did not confirm the reports.
“North Korea will do it to the end until China and the United States want to sign a peace treaty”, said the source, who declined to be identified.
A year ago in August, South Korea did something similar in retaliation for injuring two of their soldiers with mines.
The U.N. Security Council that has pledged new sanctions against North Korea after its purported hydrogen bomb test on Wednesday.
It may take weeks or longer to confirm or refute the North’s claim that it successfully tested a hydrogen bomb, which would mark a major and unanticipated advance for its still-limited nuclear arsenal.
U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan said Thursday that the House will soon take up legislation that would impose stiffer penalties on countries that do business with North Korea, a move that would hit China the hardest. Outside experts are skeptical the blast was a hydrogen bomb, but even a test of an atomic bomb would push North Korea closer to building a nuclear warhead small enough to place on a long-range missile.
U.S analysts tracking China-North Korea relations think China would not squeeze Kim Jong-un’s regime to the point where it may collapse and cause turmoil at its borders.
Lee said the institute will continue to collect and analyze more samples.
In October 2014, North Korean troops opened fire after South Korean activists launched balloons carrying propaganda leaflets.
Philip Hammond, the Foreign Secretary, used a visit to Japan to call on the South to exercise restraint and “not rise to the bait”.
The broadcasts include criticism about the North’s systemic human rights abuses, its struggling economy and latest nuclear test. Korean pop songs, world news and weather forecasts are also in the broadcasts.
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North Koreans are prohibited from listening to K-pop, but defectors have said their countrymen enjoy music and other elements of South Korea popular culture that are smuggled into the country on USB sticks and DVDs.
