North Korea on Wednesday conducted its fourth nuclear test and claimed to have detonated a hydrogen bomb for the first time.
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The United States called on China to end “business as usual” with its ally North Korea after Pyongyang defied world powers by saying it had tested a hydrogen bomb, while South Korea prepared to retaliate by broadcasting propaganda across the border.
Though North Korea already is subject to strict sanctions, the United Nations has promised a resolution to further strengthen these measures. South Korea’s Defense Ministry couldn’t confirm the reports.
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.
“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.
South Korean and US military leaders also discussed the deployment of USA “strategic assets” in the wake of the North’s test, Seoul’s Defense Ministry said Thursday.
In response to the North Korean nuclear test on Wednesday, South Korea will resume anti-North propaganda broadcasts along the demilitarized zone that separates the two.
Last August, North Korea threatened military action if the broadcasts were not stopped.
After a wave of global condemnations and emergency meetings, the worldwide community searched for ways to escalate pressure on North Korea for its latest nuclear test. The North has issued the highest alert level for the military and deployed artillery near loudspeakers.
South Korea said it would respond “sternly” to any North Korean provocation in announcing Thursday a resumption of the broadcasts that led North Korea to mobilize troops in August before marathon talks managed to ratchet down tensions. It’s not – the readings are not large enough for it to be a hydrogen bomb.
When animosities sharply rose in the spring of 2013 following North Korea’s third nuclear test, the USA took the unusual step of sending its most powerful warplanes – B-2 stealth bombers, F-22 stealth fighters and B-52 bombers – to drills with South Korea in a show of force.
Statements from the White House said President Barack Obama had spoken to South Korean President Park Geun-Hye and to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan.
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. Officials refused to elaborate, but the assets likely are B-52 bombers, F-22 stealth fighters and nuclear-powered submarines.
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An early analysis by the US government was “not consistent with the claims that the regime has made of a successful hydrogen bomb test”, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.
