US, allies to respond to N Korea nuke test

According to him, “with friction persisting on a number of issues, including cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property and Chinese island building and militarisation of the South China Sea the Chinese will capitalise on North Korea’s nuclear test to engage in limited cooperation with Washington”.

World leaders shook on January 6 morning when North Korea bragged about the “spectacular success” of its first hydrogen bomb test which resulted into a 5.1 magnitude quake near its nuclear site.

August’s broadcasts, which began after Seoul blamed Pyongyang for land mine explosions that maimed two South Korean soldiers, stopped only after the rivals agreed on a set of measures aimed at easing anger.

North Korea carried out a nuclear test on Wednesday, although the U.S. government and weapons experts doubt Pyongyang’s assertion that the device it exploded was a powerful hydrogen bomb.

US President Barack Obama has spoken to South Korean President Park Geun Hye and to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan.

Now former US Army psychological warfare officer Scott Bennett tells Press TV that the United States may have inflated North Korea’s claim of an H-bomb test for any future response on the part of Washington.

As tensions escalate between South and North Korea, the former has said it’s going to turn its propaganda loud speakers on again.

Ministry officials refused to elaborate about what us military assets were under consideration, but they likely refer to B-52 bombers, F-22 stealth fighters and nuclear-powered submarines.

But the North is already under layers of sanctions imposed following its past missile launches and three nuclear tests, and analysts have questioned what real impact fresh penalties will really have. At the time, North Korea responded by threatening a nuclear strike on the United States. He said there had been constant consultations on North Korea, including on his first trip to China after he became the top US diplomat in 2013.

Hydrogen bomb is a weapon energised by the nuclear fusion of hydrogen isotopes in a chain reaction.

“Continuing with words is not enough, we have to show we are prepared to take the actions to make the sanctions regime against North Korea effective”, he said.

He says, “We want them to abandon any nuclear activities and comply with the global commitments and obligations”. But debate is growing on just how far the North has advanced.

The South raised its military alert to the highest level in areas along the border near its propaganda loudspeakers, the South’s Yonhap news agency reported yesterday.

China has also been sharply critical of the DPRK’s decision to conduct its fourth nuclear test.