North Korea’s bomb claims in doubt

President Park Geun-hye says that South Korea must prepare for confrontational situations on the Korean Peninsula because North Korea provocations can happen at any time.

Ruling Saenuri Party officials suggested that South Korea should develop its own nuclear arsenal, despite USA opposition to anything other than peaceful atomic energy use in the country, which is committed to the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

So how much of a threat is North Korea?

The rivals negotiated an end to the standoff with an agreement to improve ties.

Attending a New Year’s event at the Korean Women’s Development Institute on Thursday, the president said that North Korea’s abrupt nuclear test conducted on Wednesday was a major shock to national security and the South Korean people. Despite their partnership, China has always voted in favor of resolutions favoring North Korea’s denuclearization.

The European Union urged North Korea to cease “illegal and risky behaviour”.

The United States will take all possible measures to ensure the safety of its allies, including Japan, Obama said.

Officials in Japan also were holding discussions. The agency said it was possible this was another nuclear test, but it is still analyzing data. “The Clinton administration led the world in relaxing sanctions against North Korea”. Diplomatic relations experts said it’s a drastic move by the Hermit Kingdom to command attention.

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.

The 20-minute telephone conversation came a day after North Korea claimed it had succeeded in conducting a hydrogen bomb test. The isolated country last tested a nuclear device in 2013.

“The two leaders also… agreed that the North should pay the appropriate price for the latest nuclear test and vowed to closely cooperate to have a strong resolution adopted at the UN Security Council”, it added.

An actual hydrogen bomb has a seismic signature similar to an atomic weapon’s.

In this case, “that device may not be a pure thermonuclear device, or what is commonly called a hydrogen bomb, but something more moderate”, said Kay, now a Senior Fellow at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies.

The source said the size of the latest explosion was roughly consistent with previous tests.