In response to the isolated country’s latest nuke test, South Korea blasted K-pop music and information about life in the north and south through an array of speakers pointed over the border, an official with the South Korean military told NBC News.
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South Korea on Friday resumed cross-border broadcasts via loudspeakers after five months, following Pyongyang’s announcement that it had successfully conducted a hydrogen bomb test. Last year, rising hostilities along the border led to South Korea turning its loudspeakers on.
The Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety said a small amount of radioactive elements was found in air samples collected from the peninsula’s eastern seas after the blast, but the measured amount was too small to determine whether the North had really detonated a nuclear device.
They included karaoke favourites such as the upbeat dance hit Bang, Bang, Bang.
South Korea’s anti-Pyongyang broadcasts harshly criticize North Korea’s regime and human rights conditions.
Hua did not mention the United States by name, but her remarks were a reference to the belief in China that efforts by the U.S.to isolate North Korea economically and politically over the past decade have worsened the situation. The Global Times, a mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party, responded by stating that “there is no hope to put an end to the North Korean nuclear conundrum if the U.S., South Korea, and Japan do not change their policies toward Pyongyang”. North Korea depends heavily on trade with China, as well as Chinese aid.
South Korean military officials say the North is continuing to actively pursue the development of SLBMs, which would take its nuclear threat to a new level.
But an early analysis by the USA government was “not consistent with the claims that the regime has made of a successful hydrogen bomb test”, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.
North Korean officials said the fate of Saddam Hussein in Iraq and Moamar Gaddafi in Libya showed what happened when countries forsake their nuclear weapon ambitions.
Park’s office said she also spoke with Abe over the phone and that they vowed cooperation to ensure that the U.N. Security Council imposes strong and effective measures against the North.
State media published images of the rally which appeared to show thousands of people gathered in central Pyongyang, holding propaganda signs glorifying leader Kim Jong-un, whose birthday was also on Friday. North Korea is thought to have a handful of rudimentary nuclear bombs and has spent decades trying to flawless a multistage, long-range missile to carry smaller versions of those bombs. President Obama, who has deliberately inflamed flashpoints throughout the Asia-Pacific as part of his “pivot to Asia”, is not about to make any concessions over North Korea and will undoubtedly exploit its nuclear test to accelerate Washington’s war drive against China.
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He adds that North Korea seems to look down on the South “because we are always in a defensive position”. These weapons could include B-2 and B-52 bombers, and a nuclear-powered submarine, Reuters reported, citing other media.
