Koreas slide into Cold War standoff after nuke test by North

South Korean and US militaries also discussed the deployment of USA “strategic assets”, Seoul’s Defense Ministry said.

In a rare move, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs publicly criticized the North Korean action, saying Beijing “firmly opposes” Pyongyang’s suspected nuclear test. Spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters her country had not been given warning of the test.

A commentary Thursday in People’s Daily, the Communist Party’s flagship newspaper, said the United States had “inescapable responsibilities for the current tension in the peninsula”.

North Korea first announced in May that it had conducted a successful SLBM test, a claim accompanied by pictures of Kim pointing at the missile as it blasted out of the water at a 45-degree angle.

U.S. has identified the new missile as KN-11 ejecting from underwater and reaching about 130 feet in the air and is followed by engine igniting and flying into a cloud covered sky.

But even a test of an atomic bomb, a less sophisticated and less powerful weapon, would push its scientists and engineers closer to their goal of building a nuclear warhead small enough to place on a missile that can reach the US mainland. Media said the assets could include B-2 and B-52 bombers, and a nuclear-powered submarine.

Still, China may be reluctant to crackdown hard on North Korea for fear of destabilizing the Kim regime, which could send millions of refugees across China’s border, or lead to an eventual unification with the South, leaving a well-armed USA ally on China’s frontier. Rather Washington is engaged in a military build-up throughout the Indo-Pacific region as part of its “pivot to Asia” directed against China and seeking to ensure continued American hegemony.

Over the years, China has taken modest steps to limit North Korea’s nuclear program, including banning weapons shipments.

China is caught in a bind.

Japanese media say the U.N. Security Council has prepared a draft resolution sanctioning North Korea. The broader impact of rising competition from the U.S. rebalance and Chinese assertiveness in the South China Sea has begun to inhibit prospects for Sino-U.S. cooperation on North Korea.

South Korean army soldiers adjust equipment used for propaganda broadcasts near the border area between South Korea and North Korea in Yeoncheon, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 8, 2016.

Pyongyang’s prime motivation is to exploit its nuclear arsenal as a bargaining chip in refashioning relations with imperialism. U.S. officials have repeatedly ruled out a peace deal with North Korea.

The North Korean regime is desperate to open up the country as a cheap labour platform for foreign investors and is expanding its network of free trade zones throughout the country. “The China-North Korea relationship should not be dragged into antagonism”.

Gordon Chang, an author and columnist who writes extensively on China, said there appears to be little consensus in the Chinese leadership about whether it should change its policy on North Korea at this point.

More than nine years have passed since North Korea’s first successful nuclear experiment in October 2006. China had not been informed of the test in advance.

Criticizing the popular global opinion that China has a hand in the military risks arising out of North Korea, Beijing has stated that the entire worldwide community -and not just China- is responsible for making Pyongyang see the error of its ways. Bush only agreed to China’s proposal for six-party talks under conditions where the U.S. occupation forces in Iraq were hard-pressed, then scuttled the resulting agreement in 2008.