The DPRK’s claim of having conducted a successful hydrogen bomb test on Wednesday has not just invited worldwide condemnation, but also sent ripples in its region. Like the United States, the South has few options for punishing the North for its nuclear ambitions, which it has continued to pursue despite decades of worldwide sanctions and resolutions from the U.N. Security Council.
Advertisement
South Korea’s military resumed propaganda broadcasts against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) as planned in retaliation for DPRK’s nuclear test, Yonhap news agency reported on Friday.
“It worked for a while in the past until we lifted those sanctions under the thought that North Korea might come back to the table”.
When South Korea last blasted proaganda over the border for two weeks last August, the two Koreas exchanged artillery fire.
According to South Korea’s Defense Ministry, the broadcasts can reach the intended target about 20 kilometers away during the night. North Korea also vowed that it will not transfer its nuclear capabilities to other parties.
Mr Li Zhonglin, an ethnic Korean Chinese academic from Yanbian University, said he believed the latest nuclear test would provoke a stronger response from China than did North Korea’s previous three tests, but stressed there were limits.
China’s role in influencing North Korea is again in the spotlight following Pyongyang’s fourth nuclear test. Beijing is the country’s main ally and several figures including Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump have demanded China do more.
“At this stage, we don’t think it is appropriate to talk about the withdrawal or closure of the complex”, said spokesperson Jeong Joon-hee of South Korea’s unification ministry, which restricted access to Kaesong from south of the border a day earlier.
According to South Korean media, the broadcasts include K-pop – rap and dance music by the country’s well-known boy and girl bands – and talk about sensitive topics like human rights and lifestyles.
“Our military is at a state of full readiness, and if North Korea wages provocation, there will be firm punishment”, a South Korean national security official, Cho Tae-yong, said in a statement.
The Obama administration, meanwhile, has made clear it isn’t interested in improving ties with North Korea unless Pyongyang gives up its nuclear weapons program. At the time, North Korea responded by threatening a nuclear strike on the United States.
Advertisement
Ministry officials refused to elaborate about what USA military assets were under consideration, but they likely refer to B-52 bombers, F-22 stealth fighters and nuclear-powered submarines.
