South Korea: Propaganda Against North To Resume

In August, the Koreas appeared on the verge of armed conflict partly because of the broadcasts, which the South used to blare news of the outside world and criticism of Pyongyang, as well as bouncy South Korean pop music, into the tightly controlled country.

The United States, South Korea, Japan and China are testing for airborne or ground radiation in the region, but more than 24 hours after North Korea announced a successful test, the country’s closest neighbors say they haven’t found any evidence of radiation.

Pyongyang claimed on Wednesday that it had conducted a successful test on its first hydrogen bomb, also known as a thermonuclear device.

“We have not had formal consultations on the THAAD system with the Republic of Korea; no decisions have been made on a potential deployment of the THAAD to the Korean peninsula”, Cook said, before noting “this is part of a larger discussion that we’ll continue to have with South Koreans about capabilities and about the alliance moving forward, but there’s been no formal discussions about THAAD deployment”. Vowing to hit back, South Korea said Monday, Aug. 10, 2015, that North Korean soldiers laid the three mines that exploded last week at the border and maimed two South Korean soldiers.

“Our troops will remain in a state of full readiness and be fully prepared for a firm response in the event of any provocation from the North”, he added. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters that Beijing “firmly opposes” Pyongyangs purported test and is monitoring the environment on its border with North Korea near the test site.

North Korea also said it was capable of miniaturising the H-bomb, in theory allowing it to be placed on a missile and threatening the U.S. West Coast, South Korea and Japan.

The Global Times, an influential tabloid published by China’s ruling Communist Party’s official People’s Daily, said in an editorial it was unfair to expect China alone to bring about change in Pyongyang. The North’s state news agency said this week that the test had “guaranteed the eternal future of the nation”.

Reflecting widespread condemnation of North Korea’s latest actions, the UN Security Council gathered in a special session on Wednesday.

One of the world’s top experts on the North Korean nuclear program, former Los Alamos National Laboratory director Siegfried Hecker has visited North Korea seven times since 2004; he is one of the few Western scientists to have set foot inside the Yongbyon nuclear facility. Given North Korea’s interest in this arena, it is possible that a boosted fission weapon was the aim of the most recent test.

It’s a good racket for North Korea.

But while North Korea remains one of the most heavily sanctioned countries in the world, there is still room to increase coercive measures.

“It seems just too soon to have this big technical achievement”, she said.

North Korea says it detonated a hydrogen bomb Wednesday.

The United States and its ally South Korea are limited in their military response.

But what the Obama administration has advertised as “strategic patience” – not overreacting to every North Korean test and demand for a payoff while continuing pressure through sanctions until the North agrees to negotiate – may well be judged by administration critics as having paved the way for an arsenal the size of Pakistan’s. If the United States worked with Japan, South Korea, and other allies to require inspections of all vessels and aircraft arriving from North Korea, for example, there would be a considerable impact on the country’s illicit shipments of drugs and counterfeit money, as well as the North’s ability to procure materials for its missile and nuclear weapons programs.

Obama also spoke to President Park Geun-hye of South Korea to discuss options.

“On the first trip that I made to China, when I raised the issue of the climate negotiation that resulted in China joining with us, I spent most of that trip and most of that time on North Korea”, Kerry said. Media reports said those assets could include B-2 and B-52 bombers, and a nuclear-powered submarine.