China to back UNSC’s North Korea resolution

South Korean military officials initially attempted to make contact with the drone and warn it not to cross into South Korean territory.

CNN quotes retired Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer, a former U.S. Army intelligence officer, as positing that the drone had been sent on an intelligence-seeking mission.

Opinions among analysts remain divided over whether North Korea’s fleet of submarines is capable of launching SLBMs.

Behind the theater put on by the North Korean state, news of a nuclear test brings mixed feelings of pride and indifference for ordinary North Koreans.

South Korean and Chinese defense officials met in Seoul on Friday, January 15 with North Korea’s latest nuclear test high on the agenda, as pressure grows on Beijing to take a tougher line with ally Pyongyang.

The country’s new leader, Kim Jong-Un, has made plain his aims to strut the world stage by throwing detente in the wastebasket and marching the country’s nuclear-weapons program forward. He also told Voice of America that the detained Korean-American spoke to him over the phone from Pyongyang four years ago during one of his trips to North Korea.

“If the nuclear threat posed by North Korea … should reach that level of seriousness, South Korea … will face a critical strategic choice: seek the re-introduction of USA nuclear weapons, pursue its own independent nuclear force or accept the necessity of accommodating its nuclear-armed adversaries, often-called ‘Finlandization, ‘” Murdock said.

Oh Hyun-min was in middle school when North Korea conducted its third nuclear test in February 2013.

Police believe North Korea may be preparing to launch a major cyber attack in response to the UN Security Council slapping it with fresh sanctions and South Korea resuming propaganda broadcasts along the border.

In response to VOA’s question via Twitter prior to his trip, Blinken said that US and China share the same interest in regional stability, while the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea), another name for North Korea, is “the greatest source of instability” in the region. So, it looks like being isolated internationally does not disturb North Korea much.

Park Geun-hye, the President of South Korea indicated that this was a highly provocative action on the part of the North. She also feels that newer and more stringent sanctions should be imposed against North Korea as a stern action.