Seoul media: S.Korea fires warning shots after drone spotted

Five of the six regional powers involved in the now-stalled nuclear negotiations with North Korea – China, Russia, Japan, the US and South Korea – will hold a series of talks this week to discuss their response to the North’s recent nuclear test, the South Korean foreign ministry has said.

The news comes amid rising tensions in the Korean Peninsula and an impending decision by Seoul and Washington to deploy additional troops to South Korea.

Seoul also said that North Korea had flown leaflets across the border describing Park and her government as “mad dogs”.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday he had made clear in a phone call with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi that China’s approach to North Korea has not succeeded.

North Korea says last week’s test was of a miniaturised hydrogen bomb – a claim largely dismissed by experts who argue the yield was far too low for a full-fledged thermonuclear device.

Meanwhile, the US House of Representatives House pushed ahead on legislation that seeks to punish North Korea for its latest nuclear test by expanding sanctions on Pyongyang, a move with strong bipartisan support despite questions over how effective the new restrictions can be. The North previously conducted atomic bomb tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013.

The U.S. on Sunday sent a B-52 bomber on a low-level flight south of Seoul, while South Korea has restarted propaganda broadcasts across its heavily armed northern border.

South Korea will continue to work with the UN, as well as its allies United States and Japan, on countermeasures against North Korea, said Ms Park.

Amid calls from South Korea for China to take strict actions against Pyongyang, another report by Yonhap said that a Chinese ambassador to North Korea, Li Jinjun, recommended a stronger relationship for China with North Korea while addressing Chinese students living in Pyongyang.

“Whether it be North Korea or Iran, when will we learn the hard lesson that totalitarian states do not negotiate in good faith, can not be trusted to hold up their end of the bargain, and use our goodwill and our foreign capital to keep on proliferating?” said Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.).

It is the first time shots have been fired in what has so far been a Cold War-style standoff between the Koreas in the wake of the North’s nuclear test one week ago.

While the North has responded with its own broadcasts, it also emerged Wednesday that the reclusive state has adopted another strategy commonly employed by activists south of the border.

Kim, 62, told CNN on Monday he had been detained in North Korea since October.

The object turned around and returned to the North Korean side after it was sacked upon.