South Korea seeks US strategic arms after test

Talks underway on strengthening sanctions, say UN diplomats

South Korea is in talks with the United States to deploy US strategic weapons on the Korean peninsula, a South Korean military official said on Thursday, a day after North Korea said it successfully tested a hydrogen nuclear device.

South Korea also said it would resume propaganda broadcasts by loudspeaker into North Korea from Friday, which is likely to infuriate its isolated rival, in response to its fourth nuclear test.

The US and weapons experts voiced doubts the device North Korea tested on Wednesday was a hydrogen bomb, but calls mounted for more sanctions against it for its rogue nuclear programme.

The underground explosion angered China, which was not given prior notice although it is North Korea’s main ally, pointing to a strain in their ties.

The test also alarmed Japan. Its Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, agreed with US President Barack Obama in a telephone call that a firm global response was needed, the White House said.

Mr Obama also spoke to President Park Geun-hye of South Korea to discuss options. A South Korean military official told Reuters the two countries had discussed the deployment of US strategic assets on the divided Kor-ean peninsula. The consultations between the US, Japan and South Korea followed a meeting of the 15-member UN Security Council in New York which, with backing from China, Pyongyang’s sole major ally, strongly condemned the test and said it would begin work on a new UN draft resolution that would contain “further significant measures”. UN diplomats confirmed that talks were underway on strengthening several sets of sanctions that have been imposed on North Korea since it first tested an atomic device in 2006.

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 US. South Korea, technically in a state of war against the North, said it was not considering a nuclear deterrent of its own, despite calls from ruling party leaders. The US is highly unlikely to restore the tactical nuclear missiles it removed from South Korea in 1991, experts said.

The test was a “grave violation” of an August agreement by the two Koreas to ease tension and improve ties, a South Korean national security official, Cho Tae-yong, said in a statement. “Our military is at a state of full readiness, and if North Korea wages provocation, there will be firm punishment.”

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 late on Thursday.

The US is limited in its military response for fear of provoking an unpredictable regime in Pyong-yang, said Anthony Cordes-man, a defence policy expert at the Washington-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies thinktank.