Koreas slide into Cold War standoff after nuke test by North

[rooster59]

Koreas slide into Cold War standoff after nuke test by North

FOSTER KLUG, Associated Press
KIM TONG-HYUNG, Associated Press


SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea trumpets a hydrogen bomb test. South Korea responds by cranking up blasts of harsh propaganda from giant green speakers aimed across the world's most dangerous border. Now Pyongyang warns of war.

As the world looked Saturday for ways to punish the North over a nuclear test that pushes Pyongyang closer to its goal of a nuclear armed missile that can reach the U.S. mainland, the two Koreas have quickly slid into the kind of Cold War-era standoff that has defined their relationship over the past seven decades.

A top North Korean ruling party official's warning that the South's broadcasts have pushed the Korean Peninsula "toward the brink of war" is typical of Pyongyang's over-top-rhetoric. But it is also indicative of the real fury that the broadcasts, which criticize the country's revered dictatorship, cause in the North.

Seoul resumed the cross-border broadcasts Friday for the first time in the nearly five months. Pyongyang says the broadcasts are tantamount to an act of war. When Seoul Korea briefly resumed propaganda broadcasts in August after an 11-year break, Seoul says the two Koreas exchanged artillery fire.

Besides the "brink of war" comment, Workers' Party Secretary Kim Ki Nam said in comments broadcasts on state TV Friday that Pyongyang's rivals are "jealous" of the North's successful hydrogen bomb test. Many outside governments and experts question whether the blast was a powerful hydrogen test.

South Korean troops, near about 10 sites where loudspeakers started blaring propaganda Friday, were on the highest alert, but have not detected any unusual movement from North Korea along the border, an official from Seoul's Defense Ministry, who refused to be named, citing office rules, said.

The South's Yonhap news agency said Seoul had deployed missiles, artillery and other weapons systems near the border to swiftly deal with any possible North Korean provocation. The ministry did not confirm the report.

Officials say broadcasts from the South's loudspeakers can travel about 10 kilometers (6 miles) during the night and 24 kilometers (15 miles) at night. That reaches many of the huge force of North Korean soldiers stationed near the border and also residents in border towns such as Kaesong, where the Koreas jointly operate an industrial park that has been a valuable cash source for the impoverished North.

Seoul also planned to use mobile speakers to broadcast from a small South Korean island just a few kilometers (miles) from North Korean shores.

While the South's broadcasts also include news and pop music, much of the programming challenges North Korea's government more directly.

'We hope that our fellow Koreans in the North will be able to live in (a) society that doesn't invade individual lives as soon as possible," a female presenter said in parts of the broadcast that officials revealed to South Korean media. "Countries run by dictatorships even try to control human instincts."

Marathon talks by the Koreas in August eased anger and stopped the broadcasts, which Seoul started after blaming North Korean land mines for maiming two soldiers. It might be more difficult to do so now. Seoul can't stand down easily, some analysts say, and it's highly unlikely that the North will express regret for its nuclear test, which is a source of intense national pride.

Responding to the bomb test, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged China, the North's only major ally and biggest aid provider, to end "business as usual" with North Korea.

Diplomats at a U.N. Security Council emergency session pledged to swiftly pursue new sanctions. For current sanctions and any new penalties to work, better cooperation and stronger implementation from China is seen as key.

South Korean and U.S. militaries also discussed the deployment of U.S. "strategic assets," Seoul's Defense Ministry said. Officials refused to elaborate, but the assets will likely include B-52 bombers, F-22 stealth fighters and nuclear-powered submarines.

After North Korea's third nuclear test in 2013, the U.S. took the unusual step of sending its most powerful warplanes to drills with South Korea in a show of force. B-2 and B-52 bombers are capable of delivering nuclear weapons.

It may take weeks or longer to confirm or refute the North's claim that it successfully tested a hydrogen bomb, which would mark a major and unanticipated advance for its still-limited nuclear arsenal. Outside experts are skeptical the blast was a hydrogen bomb, but even a test of an atomic bomb would push North Korea closer to building a nuclear warhead small enough to place on a long-range missile.

The Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety said a small amount of radioactive elements was found in air samples collected from the peninsula's eastern seas after the blast, but the measured amount was too small to determine whether the North had really detonated a nuclear device. The institute will continue to collect and analyze more samples.

-- (c) Associated Press 2016-01-09

[rasmus5150]

I have a temple nearby my house that also blasts their HUGE loudspeakers several hours every day. And if I had a few A or H bombs, I would love to drop them on their speakers........

[GOLDBUGGY]

The writing on the wall has been clear for North Korea since they agreed to a Cease Fire long ago. There has never been a Treaty signed between North and South Korea, Nor has there ever been a declaration to end this war between them. Only a Cease Fire was agreed upon and why there Border is so heavily fortified today.

It is obvious that North Korea wants to take control over South Korea and unify the country under Kim's Dictatorship. This is why half of North Korea's GDP goes towards military and military equipment, when there is so many other places that could use this money. They would have attacked South Korea already, if it were not for the presence of the USA being there now.

So to get over this huddle and blockade from the US, North Korea went after the development of the Atomic Bomb, and now the Hydrogen Bomb. It use to strike me odd that a country like North Korea, which everything is kept so secret, lets everyone know they have these bombs and every time they test them with success. But as Kim's Father has said many times in the past truthfully that the United States has never attacked a country who had the Atomic Bomb.

So could these Hydrogen Bomb Tests be the forerunner to the invasion of South Korea by North Korea? In the hopes that the United States will not get involved due to the North having this bomb? A Big Gamble no matter how you look it at. But somehow this Fat Spoiled Kim strikes me of the type that thinks a bullet can't even kill him. So maybe he will try to fulfill his father's dream.

[retarius]

A vast amount of hypocrisy about all of this…special proliferation rules for some like India and Israel….and special anti-proliferation rules for others like Iran and NK. The US making it up as it goes along. IMO About time all nuclear weapons were banned worldwide including the major powers. The problem is that nukes are fantastic insurance for small nations like NK and relatively cheap.

[daveAustin]

Sure, get rid of them all, but as it stands, those that openly threaten annihilation of other states (NK, Iran) should not have nukes.

[fred Kubasa]

I think the North is deliberately provoking others so one/more will attack & further decimate that

country, ( if further decimination is even possible ),and then return to rebuild the nation after it has been leveled.

[Publicus]

Kim having atomic then at some point hydrogen weapons gives him the decided advantage over South Korea and Japan.

By far most important however, it neutralises the nuclear arsenal of Beijing which makes him untouchable by anyone. Beijing is just down the road and hang a left contrasted to the United States which is way out over there.

CCP in Beijing have more than once thrown their hands in the air during 20 years of unsuccessfully trying to get the Kims to adopt the economic reforms and development of Deng Xiaoping. Beijing has many times and thoroughly presented Deng style reforms to adopt in North Korea but with effectively zero result. That the Kims chose instead to go nuclear shows how crazy they are and also how Beijing has no control over them.

Xi Jinping can send his foreign minister participating in the P5+1 to nuclear negotiate with Iran and to conclude a nuclear weapons agreement, but he can't even meet with a Kim to get reforms in NK that put rice on their table, nevermind get to the nuclear stuff.

Xi visited South Korea last year but still has not gone to North Korea. S Korea Pres Park visited Beijing in September. Kim Jong Fat has not left the country for any reason. Japan has Patriot missile batteries positioned facing west at their strategic buildings in Tokyo. This Kim seems to want only enemies cause that's all he's got.

Edited January 10, 2016 by Publicus