U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged China, the North’s only major ally and its biggest aid provider, to end “business as usual” with North Korea.
Advertisement
North Korea said Wednesday it had successfully tested a “miniaturized” hydrogen bomb that elevated the country’s “nuclear might to the next level”.
“No matter what happens, [all parties] should adhere to the objective of denuclearization of the peninsula and maintain peace, stability in the peninsula”, Hua said.
British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, on a visit to Japan, urged the South and other countries in the region to show restraint.
“Even the Chinese, who are closely allied with the North Koreans, have a hard time not just managing them but even understanding what decision-making is like”, he said.
“Xenon readings at 1st station downwind of #DPRK test site RN38 Takasaki #Japan at normal concentrations”.
Now they are back – punishment for Wednesday’s surprise nuclear test, which triggered global condemnation and concern, despite expert opinion that the yield was far too low to support the North’s claim that the device was an H-bomb.
The South Korean broadcasts are considered an insult by the isolated North which has in the past threatened military strikes to stop them.
While many have cast doubt on North Korea’s assertion, South Korea on Thursday restarted its propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts over the border in retaliation for the test. In response, North Korea has increased its number of troops along the border, according to reports.
They burned an effigy of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and cut apart the North Korean flag. Another message said Kim’s policy to boost both the economy and its nuclear program was unrealistic. Senior presidential official Cho Tae-yong said Thursday the broadcast will resume because the North’s bomb test was a violation of the August agreement. The Upper House resolution called on the United Nations Security Council to adopt a resolution and tack on more sanctions against the North.
While the South’s broadcasts also include news and pop music, much of the programming challenges North Korea’s government more directly. A congressional source said it was expected as soon as Monday.
If the underground test is confirmed, it would be the North’s fourth nuclear test and its first of the H-bomb, which is more powerful than an atomic bomb.
In 2005, North Korea reached an agreement with the United States, South Korea, China, Japan and Russian Federation to suspend its nuclear programme in return for diplomatic rewards and energy assistance.
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.
Advertisement
A South Korean military official told Reuters that Seoul and Washington had discussed the deployment of USA strategic assets on the divided Korean peninsula, but declined to give further details. Officials refused to elaborate, but the assets likely are B-52 bombers, F-22 stealth fighters and nuclear-powered submarines.
