U.S. deploys more Patriot missiles in South Korea

The United States temporarily deployed an additional Patriot missile battery in South Korea in response to North Korea’s nuclear test and a long—range rocket launch, ahead of talks next week to set up an even more sophisticated U.S. missile defense in a move that has worried China and Russia.

The new tough stance follows South Korea’s decision to shut down an inter—Korean factory park that had been the rival Koreas’ last major symbol of cooperation, but that Seoul said had been used by North Korea to fund its nuclear and missile programs. North Korea responded by deporting South Korean citizens, seizing South Korean assets and vowing to militarize the park.

South Korea on Friday cut off power and water supplies to the industrial park and announced that its planned talks with the United States on deploying the Terminal High—Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, one of the most advanced missile defense systems in the world, could start next week. Officials say they have yet to set a specific starting date for the talks.

In the meantime, the U.S. military command in South Korea said on Saturday that an air defence battery unit from Ft. Bliss, Texas, has been conducting ballistic missile training using the Patriot system at Osan Air Base near Seoul.

Lt. Gen. Thomas Vandal, commander of the U.S. Eighth Army, said “exercises like this ensure we are always ready to defend against an attack from North Korea.”

“North Korea’s continued development of ballistic missiles against the expressed will of the international community requires the alliance to maintain effective and ready ballistic missile defences,” he said in a statement.

A spokeswoman for U.S. Forces Korea couldn’t confirm how long the Patriot missile battery from Texas would be deployed in South Korea. The U.S. military already has an operating Patriot missile defence system in South Korea to counter the threat of North Korea’s shorter—range arsenal and medium—range missiles.

South Korean media have long speculated that the two countries are working on a THAAD deployment in South Korea, but it took the North’s rocket launch last Sunday, which outsiders see as a test of banned ballistic missile technology, for the allies to formally announce they will begin the missile defence talks.

Beijing and Moscow are sensitive to the possibility of THAAD in South Korea; critics say the system could help U.S. radar spot missiles in other countries.

China’s state media quickly made the country’s displeasure known, while Russia also expressed worries about the deployment. North Korea has previously warned of a nuclear war in the region and threatened to bolster its armed forces if the THAAD deployment occurs.

In Munich, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with his Chinese and South Korean counterparts to discuss the response to North Korea’s actions, including the missile system. In talks with South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung—se, Mr. Kerry expressed support for Seoul’s decision to shut down the factory park in the North Korean border town of Kaesong and discussed a broad range of potential sanctions against the North, South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said.

Seoul and Washington want to deploy the system at an early date and the upcoming talks will discuss where and exactly when the deployment can be made, a South Korean defence official said, requesting anonymity because of department rules.

The official said the THAAD deployment is designed to protect South Korea from North Korean threats and isn’t targeting China or anyone else.

The current standoff flared after North Korea carried out a nuclear test last month, its fourth, followed by the long—range rocket launch on Sunday. Pyongyang said the launch, which put an Earth observation satellite into orbit, is part of a peaceful space programme.

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North Korea fires rocket seen as covert missile test

North Korea on Sunday defied international warnings and launched a long-range rocket that the United Nations and others call a cover for a banned test of technology for a missile that could strike the U.S. mainland.

The rocket, fired from North Korea’s west coast and tracked by the governments in South Korea and Japan, came about two hours after an eight-day launch window opened on Sunday morning. It follows North Korea’s widely disputed claim last month to have tested a hydrogen bomb. Washington, Seoul and their allies will consider it a further provocation and will push for more tough sanctions in the United Nations.

A South Korean defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of office rules, said the launch from the North’s west coast launching pad was made between 9-30 a.m. and 9-35 a.m. local time, but gave no other details. Japan’s NHK broadcaster reported that debris from the launch was believed to have fallen about 250 kilometers (155 miles) off the southwest coast of the Korean Peninsula into the East China Sea about 14 minutes after the launch.

NHK also showed footage of an object visible in the skies from the southern island of Okinawa that was believed to be the rocket.

Japanese chief Cabinet spokesman Yoshihide Suga told reporters that no debris fell on Japanese territory.

South Korean President Park Geun-hye convened an emergency national security council meeting after the launch.

North Korean rocket and nuclear tests are seen as crucial steps toward the North’s ultimate goal of a nuclear armed long-range missile arsenal. North Korea under leader Kim Jong Un has pledged to bolster its nuclear arsenal unless Washington scraps what Pyongyang calls a hostile policy meant to collapse Kim’s government.

The global criticism began almost immediately.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called the North Korean rocket launch and the recent nuclear test violations of U.N. agreements.

“We absolutely cannot allow this,” he told reporters at the prime minister’s residence. “We will take action to totally protect the safety and well-being of our people.”

Kim Jong Un has overseen two of the North’s four nuclear tests and three long-range rocket tests since taking over after the death of his father, dictator Kim Jong Il, in late 2011. North Korea says its rocket launches are satellite missions, but the U.S., South Korea and others say they are a covert test of ballistic missile technology. The U.N. Security Council prohibits North Korea from nuclear and ballistic missile activity. Experts say that ballistic missiles and rockets in satellite launches share similar bodies, engines and other technology.

The Jan. 6 nuclear test has led to another push in the U.N. to tighten sanctions. North Korea in 2013 also did a nuclear test and then unnerved the international community by orchestrating an escalating campaign of bombast, including threats to fire nuclear missiles at the U.S. and Seoul.

The Korean border is the world’s most heavily armed and the rivals’ navies occasionally trade gunfire near a disputed boundary in the Yellow Sea.

North Korea has spent decades trying to develop operational nuclear weapons.

It is thought to have a small arsenal of atomic bombs and an impressive array of short— and medium—range missiles. But it has yet to demonstrate that it can produce nuclear bombs small enough to place on a missile, or missiles that can reliably deliver their bombs to faraway targets.

Still, the North’s nuclear tests and steadily improving long-range rocket launches push its nuclear aims further along.

North Korea has said that plutonium and highly enriched uranium facilities at its main Nyongbyon nuclear complex are in operation. The country is thought to have a handful of rudimentary nuclear bombs but there is debate about whether it is capable of building warheads small enough to mount on a missile that could threaten the United States.

North Korea has spent decades trying to perfect a multistage, long-range rocket. After several failures, it put its first satellite into space with a long-range rocket launched in December 2012.

Six-nation negotiations on dismantling North Korea’s nuclear program in exchange for aid fell apart in early 2009.

Under Kim Jong Un, a February 2012 deal for the United States to provide 240,000 metric tons of food aid in exchange for a freeze in nuclear and missile activities collapsed after a rocket launch by the North that April.

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South Korea fires warning shots after North Korean drone seen

South Korea on Wednesday fired 20 machine gun warning shots after a North Korean drone briefly crossed the rivals’ border, officials said, the first shots fired in a Cold War-style standoff between the Koreas in the wake of the North’s nuclear test last week.

The North Korean drone was flying dozens of metres (yards) south of the border and turned back to the North after the South fired the shots, South Korean defense and military officials said, requesting anonymity because of office rules. The shots did not hit the drone.

North Korean drone flights across the world’s most heavily armed border are rare, but have happened before.

North Korea has in recent years touted its drone program, a relatively new addition to its arsenal. In 2013, state media said North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had watched a drone attack drill on a simulated South Korean target.

In 2014, Seoul officials discovered what they called several North Korean drones that had flown across the border. Those drones were crude and decidedly low-tech, but were still considered a potential new security threat.

Animosity has been high since the North’s claim on Jan. 6 that it tested a hydrogen bomb. There is widespread skepticism over the H-bomb claim, but whatever the North detonated underground will likely push the country closer toward a fully functional nuclear arsenal, which it still is not thought to have. The North previously conducted atomic bomb tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013.

Since Friday, South Korea has been blasting anti-Pyongyang propaganda and K-pop songs from huge speakers along the border. The North, which calls the broadcasts an act of war meant to threaten its system of government, is using speakers of its own in an attempt to keep its soldiers from hearing the South Korean messages.

Seoul said Wednesday that thousands of North Korean leaflets, likely sent across the border by balloons, have been found in the South. Some described South Korean President Park Geun—hye and her government as “mad dogs.”

North Korea’s propaganda machine is using the nuclear test to glorify Kim’s leadership and describing it as a necessary step to fight against what it calls a U.S.-led attempt to overthrow the North’s system.

North Korean state TV on Wednesday broadcast photos showing a smiling Kim awarding commendations to scientists and other workers involved in the test and shaking hands with them at a Workers’ Party building. Kim called the scientists and workers “nuclear combatants” and “the heroes of heroes” who caused fear in the United States and its allies, according to the state news agency.

Park on Wednesday urged North Korea’s only major ally, China, to help punish Pyongyang for its nuclear test with what she called “the strongest” possible international sanctions that could force change in the North.

Diplomats at a U.N. Security Council emergency session last week pledged to swiftly pursue new sanctions. For current sanctions and any new penalties to work, better cooperation and stronger implementation from China, the North’s diplomatic and economic protector and a veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, are seen as key.

“Holding the hands of someone in a difficult situation is the mark of the best partner,” Park said at a news conference, referring to China and South Korea’s need to punish the North. “I trust that China, as a permanent member of the Security Council, will play a necessary role.”

Beijing has recently shown signs that it is losing patience with North Korea over its repeated provocations. But China is still seen as reluctant to clamp down on the North in part because of fears that a toppled government in Pyongyang would see millions of desperate North Koreans flooding across the border with China and a U.S.-backed South Korean government in control of the Korean Peninsula.

Responding to the North’s test, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has urged China to end “business as usual” with North Korea. But in a telephone conversation with his South Korean counterpart last Friday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi made it clear that Beijing supports dialogue to resolve the nuclear standoff. His reported remarks sparked speculation in Seoul that China has no intention of joining in any harsh punishment of the North.

Top nuclear envoys from South Korea, the United States and Japan met in Seoul on Wednesday to discuss sanctions against the North.

“I hope the Chinese authorities agree with us, that we simply cannot take the business—as—usual approach to this latest provocation. We will be working very closely with them to come up with a meaningful resolution,” U.S. representative Sung Kim told reporters.

On Thursday, South Korea’s nuclear envoy is to fly to Beijing for talks with his Chinese counterpart, according to Seoul’s Foreign Ministry.

Park said Wednesday that South Korea will continue its loudspeaker campaign, calling it “the surest and most effective psychological warfare tool.”

She said past broadcasts helped front-line North Korean soldiers learn the truth about Pyongyang’s authoritarian rule and defect to South Korea. “The most powerful threat to totalitarianism is the power of truth,” she said.

The North Korean leaflets found Wednesday included messages such as “Let’s knock down the Park Geun-hye group like we do mad dogs,” and “The U.S. must immediately stop its anachronistic hostile policy on North Korea.”

Similar North Korean propaganda leaflets were discovered on a South Korean border island between late 2013 and early 2014. Still, such leafleting by the North is rare, though South Korean activists occasionally send anti-Pyongyang leaflets in balloons across the border.

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U.S. flies straight into Korean standoff

The United States deployed a B-52 bomber on a low-level flight over its ally South Korea on Sunday, a show of force following North Korea’s nuclear test last week.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un maintained that Wednesday’s test was of a hydrogen bomb and said it was a self-defensive step against a U.S. threat of nuclear war.

North Korea’s fourth nuclear test angered both China, its main ally, and the United States, although the U.S. government and weapons experts doubt the North's claim that the device was a hydrogen bomb.

The massive B-52, based in Guam and capable of carrying nuclear weapons, could be seen in a low flight over Osan Air Base at around noon (0300 GMT). It was flanked by two fighter planes, a U.S. F-16 and a South Korean F-15, before returning to Guam, the U.S. military said in a statement.

Osan is south of Seoul and 77 km from the Demilitarised Zone that separates the two Koreas. The flight was “in response to recent provocative action by North Korea,” the U.S. military said.

“The United States remains steadfast in its commitment to the defence of the Republic of Korea [South Korea] and to maintaining stability on the Korean Peninsula, to include extended deterrence provided by our conventional forces and our nuclear umbrella,” said U.S. Lt. Gen. Terrence O’Shaughnessy.

After the North’s last test, in 2013, the United States sent a pair of nuclear-capable B-2 stealth bombers over South Korea. At the time, the North responded by threatening a nuclear attack on the U.S.

U.S. is also considering sending a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to waters off the Korean peninsula next month to join a naval exercise with Seoul, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported without identifying a source.

However, U.S. military officials said they knew of no such plan.

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North Korea nuclear test breach on UNSC resolutions: NATO

North Korea said it conducted a powerful hydrogen bomb test on Wednesday, a defiant and surprising move that, if confirmed, would be a huge jump in Pyongyang’s quest to improve its still-limited nuclear arsenal.

South Korea’s spy agency and outside nuclear experts cast strong doubt, however, saying the estimated explosive yield from North Korea’s fourth nuclear explosion was much smaller than what even a failed H-bomb detonation would produce.

Latest developments:

6.06 p.m. IST: Italy says Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni will be calling his Japanese counterpart to discuss “the necessary reactions of the international community” to what Rome calls North Korea’s “provocation” if it is confirmed that a nuclear test was carried out.

Japan currently holds the rotating helm of the Group of 7 industrialised nations. Italy is a G7 member.

Italy’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday that a nuclear test by North Korea would “represent a grave violation of international law and of the pertinent U.N. Security Council resolutions and a serious threat to international and regional peace and security.”

The statement added that Mr. Gentiloni, “in condemning such a violation, calls on North Korea to honour its international obligations”.

5.56 p.m. IST: NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says the nuclear weapons test announced by North Korea is a “clear breach” of U.N. Security Council resolutions and “undermines regional and international security.”

Mr. Stoltenberg said in a statement on Wednesday, “I condemn the continued development by North Korea of nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs and its inflammatory and threatening rhetoric.”

North Korea said on Wednesday that it has conducted a hydrogen bomb test a move that would put the country a step closer toward improving its still-limited nuclear arsenal.

4.05 p.m. IST: Russia’s Foreign Ministry says it hasn’t been confirmed that North Korea has carried out an actual nuclear test.

In a statement, the Ministry calls on “all interested sides to preserve maximum restraint and to not take actions that could rouse the uncontrolled growth of tensions in Northeast Asia.”

3.56 p.m. IST: The EU foreign policy chief says that North Korea’s nuclear test, if confirmed, would represent “a grave violation of the DPRK’s international obligations not to produce or test nuclear weapons.”

Federica Mogherini said in a statement that these obligations are determined by U.N. Security Council resolutions. The North’s action would represent “a threat to the peace and security of the entire Northeast Asia region”.

She called on North Korea to re-engage in a credible and meaningful dialogue with the international community, in particular in the framework of the six-nation talks, “and to cease this illegal and dangerous behaviour”.

She says she will consult with South Korean and Japanese foreign ministers and work with the U.N. Security Council meeting in an emergency session later Wednesday.

3.21 p.m. IST: The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency says if confirmed, North Korea’s hydrogen bomb test would be in in clear violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions and “is deeply regrettable”.

IAEA Director-General Yukiya Amano issued a statement which urged North Korea to implement fully all relevant resolutions of the U.N. Security Council and the IAEA.

Mr. Amano said that IAEA remains ready to contribute to the peaceful resolution of the nuclear issue by resuming its nuclear verification activities in the North once a political agreement is reached among countries concerned.

3.02 p.m. IST: Britain’s Foreign Secretary says that if a nuclear bomb has been detonated by North Korea, it would be a grave breach of U.N. Security Council resolutions.

Philip Hammond condemned North Korea’s announcement of the nuclear test, and said it underlined the “very real threat that North Korea represents to regional and international security.”

2.50 p.m. IST: A South Korean lawmaker says the country’s spy agency told him in a private briefing that Pyongyang may not have conducted a hydrogen bomb test given the relatively small size of the seismic wave reported.

Lawmaker Lee Cheol Woo says the National Intelligence Service told him that an estimated explosive yield of six kilotons and a quake with a magnitude of 4.8 were detected Wednesday.

According to him, that’s smaller than the estimated explosive yield of 7.9 kilotonnes and a quake with a magnitude of 4.9 that were reported after the 2013 nuclear test, and only a fraction of a typical successful hydrogen bomb test’s explosive yield of hundreds of kilotonnes.

Mr. Lee says the agency told him that even a failed hydrogen bomb detonation typically yields tens of kilotonnes. Mr. Lee sits on the parliament’s intelligence committee.

1.51 p.m. IST: China, Australia and France have strongly condemned North Korea’s announcement of a nuclear test.

China, the North’s closest ally, says the reported test was carried out in defiance of the international community and urged North Korea to refrain from acts that might worsen tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop says in a statement Wednesday that the action “confirms North Korea’s status as a rogue state and a continuing threat to international peace and security.”

French President Francois Hollande said in a statement that “France condemns this unacceptable violation of Security Council resolutions and calls for a strong reaction from the international community.”

1.06 p.m. IST: South Korea’s President Park Geun-hye has convened an emergency national security council meeting and is vowing a tough response to the North’s bomb test.

Ms. Park said at the start of the meeting that the government “must get North Korea to face corresponding measures based on closed cooperation with the international community.”

She says: “It’s not only grave provocation of our national security, but also an act that threatens our lives and future. It’s also a direct challenge to world peace and stability.”

Ms. Park also ordered the military to bolster its combined defense posture with the U.S. military, saying South Korea will sternly deal with any additional provocation by North Korea.

She called for a swift, accurate analysis on the North’s claim to have conducted a hydrogen bomb test.

12.31 p.m. IST: In Pyongyang, North Koreans reacted enthusiastically to the news that the country has carried out its fourth nuclear test since 2006.

Kim Sok Chol, a 32-year-old man who watched the TV announcement on a big screen at the train station square, told The Associated Press that he does not know much about what a hydrogen bomb is, but added that “since we have it, the U.S. will not attack us. I think the first successful H-bomb test is a great national event.”

Ri Sol Yong, a 22-year-old university student, said the test “gives us more national pride.”

She said, “Thanks to the fact that our country is a nuclear weapons state, I can study at the university without any worries. If we didn’t have powerful nuclear weapons, we would already have been turned into the slaves of the U.S.”

11.02 a.m. IST: The White House says it can’t confirm a North Korean nuclear test, but said it would condemn such a test as a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.

National Security Council spokesman Ned Price says the U.S. is “aware of seismic activity on the Korean Peninsula in the vicinity of a known North Korean nuclear test site and have seen Pyongyang’s claims of a nuclear test.”

Breach of treaty

Lassina Zerbo, the head of the U.N. Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization which monitors worldwide for nuclear testing, says if confirmed, the test by North Korea would be a breach of the treaty and a grave threat to international peace and security.

Mr. Zerbo says in a statement that the universally accepted norm against nuclear testing has been respected by 183 countries since 1996.

'An artifical quake'

South Korean officials said they detected an ‘artificial earthquake’ near North Korea’s main nuclear testing site. The U.S Geological Survey measured the magnitude of the seismic activity at 5.1 on its website.

An official from the Korea Metrological Administration, South Korea’s weather agency, said it believed the earthquake was caused artificially, without elaborating, and originated 49 kilometres or 30 miles north of Kilju, the north-eastern area where North Korea’s main nuclear test site is located.

North Korea conducted underground tests to set off nuclear devices in 2006, 2009 and 2013, for which it has been subject to U.N. Security Council sanctions banning trade and financing activities that aid its weapons programme.

The test would further North Korea’s international isolation by prompting a push for new, tougher sanctions at the United Nations and worsening Pyongyang’s already bad ties with Washington and its neighbours.

'Will continue to strengthen nuclear programme'

In a statement after conducting its fourth nuclear test, North Korea's state news agency said it will not give up its nuclear programme as long as the United States maintained what it called "its stance of aggression".

North Korea also said it will act as a responsible nuclear state and vowed not to use its nuclear weapons unless its sovereignty was infringed. It also said it will not transfer its nuclear capabilities to other parties.

Japan calls it as 'significant threat'

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday condemned a Hydrogen bomb test conducted by North Korea, saying the test was a “significant threat”.

Japan held its National Security Council meeting immediately after a 5.1-magnitude quake was detected around 10.30 a.m. (local time) in the northeastern part of North Korea, Xinhua reported.

France condemns H-bomb testing

France condemned North Korea's reported test of a hydrogen bomb, calling for a "strong reaction from the international community", President Francois Hollande's office said in a statement. The statement called the reported test "an unacceptable violation of (U.N.) Security Council resolutions".

Last December, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un claimed his country had developed a hydrogen bomb, a step up from the less powerful atomic bomb.

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South Korea, Japan settle deal on wartime Korean sex slaves

The foreign ministers of South Korea and Japan say they’ve reached a deal meant to resolve a decades-long impasse over Korean women forced into Japanese military-run brothels during World War II.

Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida says his Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, is offering an apology and that Tokyo will finance a 1 billion yen aid fund for the elderly former sex slaves to be set up by South Korea.

The issue of former Korean sex slaves, euphemistically known as “comfort women,” is the biggest source of friction in ties between Seoul and Tokyo. The neighbours are thriving democracies, trade partners and staunch U.S. allies, but they have seen animosity rise since the 2012 inauguration of hawkish Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

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