China blames USA, allies for N. Korea’s nuclear test

The broadcasts came as world powers sought to find other ways to punish the North for conducting what it said was its first hydrogen bomb test Wednesday.

“We’re putting out critical messages about Kim Jong-un’s regime and its fourth nuclear test, saying North Korea’s nuclear weapons development is putting its people in more hard times economically”, a military official said.

In a phone conference Wednesday, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and South Korean Minister of National Defense Han Min-koo “agreed that North Korea’s provocations should have consequences”, according to a readout of the call from Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook.

While loudspeakers may seem a trivial response to a nuclear test, there is little doubt that the broadcasts enrage the leadership in Pyongyang, which rigorously controls what information North Koreans receive and sees the propaganda as an attempt to undermine its authority.

North Korea, in return, started its own loudspeaker broadcasts on the shared border, the South’s Yonhap News Agency said on Friday.

Obama also reaffirmed the “unshakeable United States commitment” to the security of South Korea and Japan, according to the statements. “We know responding in this way is simply rising to the bait North Korea is presenting to us”. The North’s state media has yet to mention Kim’s birthday or South Korea’s loudspeaker campaign.

US Republicans and Democrats in the House of Representatives could join forces in a rare display of unity to further tighten sanctions on North Korea. South Korea has resisted stationing of a THAAD unit in the past for fear of offending China, a major trading partner.

Cho Tae-yong from the South Korean government said the North’s test claim was a “grave violation” of the deal.

Hammond, who also visited China and the Philippines as part of a swing through the region, noted that Pyongyang ally Beijing “roundly condemned” the test.

South Korea retaliated for North Korea’s nuclear test with broadcasts of…

A South Korean military official told Reuters that Seoul and Washington had discussed the deployment of United States strategic weapons on the Korean peninsula, but declined to give details.

North Korea on January 6 announced that it had “successfully” tested a hydrogen bomb, sparking criticism from around the world. Its prime minister, Shinzo Abe, agreed with U.S. President Barack Obama in a telephone call that a firm global response was needed, the White House said.

The Kaesong complex, located in North Korea on the border, opened in 2004 as a symbol of advances toward reconciliation between the Koreas, which are still technically at war since the 1950-1953 Korean War, a conflict that was never concluded with a final peace treaty.