Pyongyang’s rivals are “jealous” of the North’s successful hydrogen bomb test, Workers’ Party Secretary Kim Ki Nam said in comments broadcast on state TV late Friday.
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The source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the issue, said the broadcasts include songs from K-pop groups like Big Bang, GFriend and Apink.
The test was personally ordered by leader Kim Jong-un and was of a miniaturised H-bomb, the country said. At the square, soldiers stood under a banner that read: “We passionately celebrate the historic national event that is the success of the first hydrogen bomb test”.
At midday Friday, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s birthday, Seoul fired up banks of high-wattage speakers along its border to broadcast criticism of Kim’s leadership and other subversive messages into the country.
Even as tensions threatened to spill over, operations continued at the Kaesong Industrial Complex just north of the border where 124 firms from the South operate.
South Korea previously restarted broadcasts in August in response to land mine explosions inside the demilitarized zone that maimed two South Korean soldiers.
Lee Kwang-sun thinks otherwise.
It’s important to know specifics about the nuclear test because it will help the rest of the world ascertain how far along North Korea is in the process of developing nuclear weapons, according Joe Cirincione, president of Ploughshares Fund, a foundation that focuses on global security.
A group of protesters also called for a stop to anti-North broadcasts. As the information spread that North Koreans have successfully tested the “Hydrogen Bomb”, all condemned the move and were of the opinion that this test is done with a destructive mentality. Un might be termed as the ruthless dictator, but for North Koreans he is their saviour.
“South Korea has said it will continue this indefinitely, and we haven’t yet seen direct retaliation from the North Koreans”.
But the meeting could be an attempt to bolster the perception that Kim has a stable hold on power, said Yang Moo-jin from South Korea’s University of North Korean Studies.
Military officials here have said the North is ready to conduct nuclear tests at any time once it takes such a “political choice”, and related evidence can be detected up to one month ahead. “It’s in their best interest to abandon these activities and comply with the worldwide commitments and obligations”. Until they do that they’re not going to achieve prosperity, they’re not going to achieve the security they desire. They’re going to live in isolation.
“We urge South Korea to exercise restraint”, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said during a visit to Japan, after the South resumed the broadcasts. But he added: “Nothing that has occurred in the last 24 hours has caused the United States government to change our assessment of North Korea’s technical and military capabilities”.
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Kerry told reporters that the USA had been in consultations with China in the past, and agreed to “give them the space to be able to implement” their desired strategy, but that the U.S. decided the new test proved China’s strategy wasn’t going to work.
