Seoul delivers barrage of K-pop across border to North Korea

South Korea responded to North Korea’s fourth nuclear test Friday by restarting cross-border broadcasts of anti-Pyongyang propaganda, a move expected to draw a furious response from the North.

The broadcasts began at midday local time (0300 UTC) Friday, the same day which is believed to be the birthday of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

The broadcasts include criticism about the North’s systemic human rights abuses, its struggling economy and latest nuclear test. Korean pop songs, world news and weather forecasts are also in the broadcasts. Their use during a risky flare-up in cross-border tensions past year infuriated Pyongyang, which at one point threatened artillery strikes against the loudspeaker units unless they were switched off.

The United States will consider proposing a resolution that imposes sanctions to the United Nations in cooperation with Japan and South Korea.

Wang stressed to Kerry that China is “firmly committed to the denuclearization of the peninsula and firmly committed to maintaining peace and stability on the peninsula”, according to a statement issued by the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

“The lyrics of songs played in these broadcasts portray South Korea as a prosperous country”, music critic Choi Kyu-seong said. He said North Korea has had trouble “mastering even the basics of a fission weapon”, so it’s a big leap to think it could create an even more complicated hydrogen bomb. He said that China’s approach to North Korea had failed. U.S Secretary of State John Kerry spoke to Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and agreed to “coordinate closely in the U.N. Security Council and with partners within the Six-Party Talks framework to take appropriate action”.

North Korea is not considered a top global cyber power, but it has been blamed for a number of high-profile intrusions, including 2013’s destructive hack of Sony Pictures Entertainment.

“China had a particular approach that it wanted to make” in dealing with North Korea, Kerry told reporters at a press briefing Thursday, recalling his first trip to Beijing as secretary.

At midday Friday, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s birthday, Seoul fired up banks of high-wattage speakers along its border to broadcast criticism of Kim’s leadership and other subversive messages into the country.

North Koreans are prohibited from listening to K-pop, and are allowed to listen only to government-controlled radio stations or TV channels.

North Korea announced Wednesday that it had successfully carried out its first hydrogen bomb test.

Outside experts are skeptical the blast was a hydrogen bomb, but even a test of an atomic bomb would push North Korea closer to building a nuclear warhead small enough to place on a long-range missile.

The U.S. Geological Survey, which also reported the temblor but initially put the magnitude at 5.1 and the depth at 10 km, later revised the depth to 0 km. In related news, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced before a general session of the House of Councillors on January 7 that Japan would be reviewing the option of imposing its own sanctions against North Korea.