The US and South Korea have also begun talks towards sending further strategic US assets to the Korean peninsula, a day after a US B-52 bomber flew over South Korea in response to North Korea’s nuclear test last week.
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“The South Korean military should muster all its efforts to stand with full-combat readiness so they can deter further provocations by North Korea and maintain peace and stability on the Korean peninsula”, Lee said Monday.
North Korea initially claimed that it had tested a hydrogen bomb, prompting worldwide outrage.
USA forces in South Korea were also put on their highest level of alert on Monday.
During a photo session with hundreds of participants at the headquarters of the Workers’ Party in Pyongyang, the young ruler lauded them for “glorifying the long-held missions of his predecessors” by successfully carrying out what he said was a hydrogen bomb test? a claim that has become the subject of dispute among outside observers.
The flight follows the recent nuclear test by North Korea.
The move is apparently motivated by security concerns, with fears that South Koreans staying in the industrial zone could be vulnerable if North-South tensions continue to escalate.
Last week, the CNN crew visited the North Korean Science and Technology Center, the public face of the government’s push to develop its technological and scientific capabilities as it ramps up its nuclear program. When South Korea briefly resumed propaganda broadcasts in August after an 11-year break, Seoul says the two Koreas exchanged artillery fire.
The U.S. military has almost 30,000 troops in South Korea, but can also quickly deploy additional conventional forces and armaments including nuclear weapons from regional bases in Japan and Guam.
The ministry would not confirm the report, nor another by Yonhap that said North Korea had started its own broadcasts likely meant to keep its soldiers from hearing the South Korean messages.
The U.S. military is trying to confirm the size of the detonation, the type of fuel used and the sophistication of the bomb design.
As I reported previously (See: “US B-52 Bomber to Get New Long-Range Cruise Missile”), the B-52 can perform strategic attack, close-air support, air interdiction, offensive counter-air and maritime operations, according to the U.S. Air Force website.
On Monday, the Unification Ministry announced that the number of South Koreans allowed to stay overnight in Kaesong was being reduced from 800 to 650.
Meanwhile, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond asked South Korea to stop the propaganda broadcasts.
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The complex, where South Korean factories employ North Korean workers, is an important source of revenue for the impoverished North.
