North Korean leader says nuclear test ‘self-defensive’

South Korea said Monday, January 11, that further United States “strategic assets” might be deployed to the Korean peninsula, following a flyover by a US B-52 bomber in response to North Korea’s latest nuclear test.

Meanwhile, Kim Jong-un, North Korean leader, has described last week’s nuclear test as a hydrogen bomb, and self-defensive measure against USA threats of a nuclear war.

In addition to its psycological warfare, Seoul is also going to restrict the entry of South Korean workers into the joint Kaesong industrial complex.

The B-52 Stratofortress is a long-range strategic bomber and part of the U.S. Pacific Command’s continuous bomber presence in the Indo-Asia-Pacific, Pacific Command said.

An analysis by the U.S. Geological Survey fixed the coordinates of the bomb test in northeastern North Korea, an isolated and heavily forested area about 6,000 feet in elevation.

Pyongyang on Wednesday carried out its fourth nuclear test, angering the global community and raising tensions with neighbouring South Korea.

In a show of force & support the USA sent a nuclear-capable B-52 bomber in a flight over South Korea.

The announcement was met with doubt North Korea had set off a hydrogen bomb, which would mark a major technological advance for Pyongyang’s limited nuclear arsenal.

Interviewed on CNN, McDonough said the United States would work with South Korea, Japan, China and Russian Federation “to deeply isolate the North Koreans” and “squeeze” them until they lived up to prior commitments to get rid of their nuclear weapons.

Both US and South Korean media have speculated that Washington may utilize B-2 stealth bombers, F-22 stealth fighter jets and nuclear-powered submarines, as well as the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, which is now based in Japan.

US officials called the 2013 crisis the most intense – and unsafe – period on the peninsula in decades, with the North threatening to turn Seoul and major USA cities, including Washington, into seas of fire.

“It is the legitimate right of a sovereign state and a fair action that nobody can criticize”, he said.

South Korea’s air force operations commander Lee Wang-Keun added their air force is ready to punish any provocations firmly and strongly whenever, wherever, and in whatever shape it may be.

Since Friday, South Korea has also been blasting propaganda from huge speakers along the border – including karaoke music – a move the North has historically viewed as tantamount to an act of war.

The new restriction was “aimed at securing the safety of South Koreans as the North is expected to react to Seoul’s resumption of anti-North Korean loudspeaker broadcasts”, ministry spokesperson Jeong Joon-hee told reporters.