South Korea to resume propaganda loudspeakers into North

Citing the fact that a hydrogen bomb would have created a greater impact than the one caused by Wednesday’s test, The Korea Times cited a report submitted to the National Assembly’s Intelligence Committee by the NIS that stated, “The energy released during the North’s last nuclear test in 2013 was 7,900 tons of TNT”.

It wasn’t clear what they were doing, but they could be involved in trying to determine what kind of nuclear device North Korea detonated.

“It is with deep concern that we have received information about the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s thermonuclear test”, the Polish foreign ministry said in a statement on its website.

“North Korea appears to have had a hard time mastering even the basics of a fission weapon”, he said.

Ukraine’s United Nations envoy said none of the 15 Security Council members spoke out against imposing new sanctions against North Korea during the closed-door meeting.

Indonesia has called for North Korea to comply with UN Security Council resolutions after the isolated country conducted a hydrogen bomb test, Foreign Affairs Minister Retno LP Marsudi said on Thursday.

While the UN Security Council has agreed to draw up “significant” punitive measures, there seems little consensus on what can effectively be added to the rafts of sanctions imposed on North Korea following its three previous tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013.

A two-hour closed session of the Security Council yesterday afternoon ended with a pledge to “begin to work immediately” on a resolution containing additional measures to rein in Pyongyang.

But the United Nations ambassador for Russian Federation, which has been developing warmer relations with Pyongyang, said it would be going “too far” to say Moscow supported further sanctions.

It may take weeks or longer to confirm or contradict the North’s claim.

What do we know about the latest test? 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.

Condemnation of the North’s claim on Wednesday to have tested its first hydrogen bomb has been swift and universal, but the real battle will be converting the indignation into concrete action that has the same across-the-board backing. Crucially, its main ally, China, has proved either unwilling or unable to help. The broadcasts were halted a year ago as part of a deal with the North to ease tensions that had escalated sharply in the summer. Hydrogen bombs use fusion, in which atoms are combined rather than split.

The United States is also limited in its military response for fear of provoking an unpredictable regime in Pyongyang, said Anthony Cordesman, a defense policy expert at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank. In a hydrogen bomb, a nuclear fission explosion sets off a fusion reaction responsible for a powerful blast and radioactivity.

White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Wednesday that early USA analysis of the underground explosion is “inconsistent” with the North’s announcement that it conducted a successful hydrogen bomb test. Private analysts also expressed doubts about Pyongyang’s declaration. “The government will seek to get the North to face UN sanctions and firm counteraction from allied nations, including the United States”, she threatened and added, “If provoked, the South will firmly retaliate against the North’s provocations”.