North Korea nuclear test paves way for rare party congress

South Korea resumed broadcasting anti-Pyongyang propaganda and K-pop songs from border loudspeakers while the North restarted border propaganda operations.

“These stories should be a wake up call to the world that more people need to open their hearts and countries need to open their borders to North Koreans struggling with being outside of North Korea, ” he said.

North Korea reportedly appointed a top military official known for his hawkishness to lead a bureau handling inter-Korean relations, casting clouds over future improvements in South-North relations.

One had a pair of cartoons of a near-naked South Korean President Park Geun-hye smooching with U.S. President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in South Korea on a diplomatic push for tougher sanctions that can force change in the North. Key to those efforts is whether China, the North’s last major ally and a veto-wielding U.N. Security Council member, will join in imposing any harsh punishment on the North.

Park said her government takes a resolute stance against North Korea’s tests and Pyongyang will soon realize the consequences of actions that violate United Nations Security Council resolutions.

Last week, South Korean troops fired warning shots at a North Korean drone that crossed the demarcation line, prompting its retreat.

South Korean officials believe their upbeat broadcasts will have an impact on frontline troops and residents living in Kim Jong-Un’s tightly-controlled secretive state.

Culture Minister Kim Jong-deok announced the plan in Beijing as he is set to host a ceremony marking “The Year of Visit to Korea” in China.

Current tensions in the region revolve around North Korean claims to have tested a hydrogen bomb, which they claim is capable of devastating whole the United States “all at once”.

Another juxtaposed Park’s portrait with a skull, calling her past proposals for improved ties with North Korea the “mad grumbles of a half corpse”. “But (we are) also looking at this independently and in partnership with other countries”. According to data released this month, 1,277 North Koreans fled to the South past year, down 120 from 2014 and the fewest since 2002.