U.S. sends spy planes as South Korea readies propaganda blasts at Pyongyang

North Korea on Wednesday conducted its fourth nuclear test and claimed to have detonated a hydrogen bomb for the first time.

According to reports, the propaganda broadcasts from loudspeakers could likely draw an angry response from North Korea, which is extremely sensitive to outside criticisms.

Seoul has responded to Pyongyang’s nuclear test by restarting propaganda broadcasts across the border.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned North Korea’s action, calling it “profoundly destabilising for regional security”, while US House Speaker Paul Ryan said it “looks like a provocation”.

On Tuesday night, the US Geological Survey detected an unusual 5.1-magnitude tremor in North Korea, located in the northeast of the country – a part of the world not known for earthquakes but very close to the nuclear test site of Punggye-ri. It had stopped broadcasting after it agreed with Pyongyang in late August on a package of measures aimed at easing animosities.

He said the seventh fleet stood ready to support U.S. forces in South Korea if necessary.

A South Korean military official told Reuters that Seoul and Washington had discussed the deployment of US strategic assets on the divided Korean peninsula, but declined to give further details.

“Given the scale, it is hard to believe this is a real hydrogen bomb”, said Yang Uk, a senior research fellow at the Korea Defence and Security Forum. North Korea expressed “regret” over the wounding of the border guards, and South Korea agreed to stop the broadcasts unless an “abnormal situation” developed.

The ministry also said there had been no government decision on what North Korea needed to do to end the propaganda broadcasts.

Fallon and Hammond are in Japan for talks later Friday with their Japanese counterparts and are also expected to meet Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

– The U.N. Security Council holds an emergency meeting and pledges to swiftly pursue new sanctions against North Korea.

South Korea also said Thursday it will limit entry to a jointly run factory park in North Korea, the last major symbol of inter-Korean cooperation.

Hours after the latest nuclear test on Wednesday, the UN Security Council said it would work immediately on significant new measures against North Korea.

“North Korea has played the US time and time again”, said Kroenig. The reason they don’t want to do that is they’re afraid that they’re going to collapse the regime or destabilize it. And for China, a destabilized North Korea on their border is as scary as a nuclear North Korea that’s doing nuclear tests, if not more scary.