The South restarts loudspeaker broadcasts, U.S. presses China to act tougher on defiant North Korea

By Park Sae-jin Posted : January 8, 2016, 13:46 Updated : January 8, 2016, 13:46

John Kerry, Secretary of the U.S. Department of State [Courtesy of U.S Department of State]



The United States criticized China’s policy towards its defiant neighbor North Korea as South Korea restart blaring propaganda broadcasts at the border in retaliation for the North’s nuclear test, heightening tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

The South raised its military alert to the highest level in areas along the border near its propaganda loudspeakers while North Korea has increased the number of troops at some forward-deployed units, according to Yonhap News.

South Korea's Unification Ministry said that it was not yet considering shutting down the Kaesong industrial complex run jointly with the North, located north of the border.

In a phone call with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said China's approach to North Korea has to not succeeded.

"China had a particular approach that it wanted to make, that we agreed and respected to give them space to implement that," Kerry told reporters. "Today in my conversation with the Chinese I made it very clear that has not worked and we cannot continue business as usual."

Kerry said he and Wang agreed to work closely to determine what measures could be taken given increasing concerns about North Korea’s alleged hydrogen bomb test on Wednesday. The test angered both the United States and China, which was not given prior notice.

China is North Korea’s main economic and diplomatic backer, and critics say it has failed to fully enforce international sanctions against the reclusive state.

South Korea's Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se will speak with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi over the phone on Friday evening to discuss the North latest nuclear test.

Analysts say China will likely join other members of the UN Security Council in imposing tougher economic sanctions. Yet Beijing is unlikely to takes steps that might seriously undermine young leader Kim Jong Un's hard-line regime.

As North Korea’s long-time ally dating back decades, China is fearful of a collapse that could bring chaos, sending refugees across the border and possibly leading to a U.S. military presence in the North.

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.

The North has conducted four nuclear tests since 2006 while paying little heed to international pressure.

The United States and its ally South Korea are limited in their military response. After North Korea last tested a nuclear device, in 2013, Washington sent a pair of nuclear-capable B-2 stealth bombers on a sortie over South Korea in a show of force. At the time, North Korea responded by threatening a nuclear strike on the United States.

Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook told a briefing on Thursday that "We are confident that we, working in lock steps with South Koreans, can respond appropriately to this action and continue to review all options that need to be considered at this point.” He was replying to a question about reports that South Korea had asked the United States to deploy strategic weapons on the Korean Peninsula.

From Friday noon, South Korea resumed propaganda broadcasts by loudspeaker into North Korea, which is likely to infuriate its isolated rival.

"Our military is at a state of full readiness, and if North Korea wages provocation, there will be firm punishment," a South Korean national security official, Cho Tae-yong, said in a statement.


By Alex Lee
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