US-South Korea talk on strategic assets heightens tension

The developments came a day after the United States flew a powerful nuclear-capable warplane close to the North in a show of force, days after North Korea claimed it  tested a hydrogen bomb.

A standoff between the rival Koreas has deepened since last week’s test, the North’s fourth. Outside North Korea, Kim faces widespread condemnation and threats of heavy sanctions over the North’s disputed claim of a hydrogen bomb test. Kim earlier called the explosion “a self-defensive step” meant to protect the region “from the danger of nuclear war caused by the U.S.-led imperialists,”. The comments provide insight into North Korea’s long-running argument that it is the presence of tens of thousands of U.S. troops in South Korea and Japan and a “hostile” US policy that justify its weapons policy. 

Meanwhile the United States and its ally South Korea were in talks towards sending further strategic US assets to the Korean peninsula, said  Kim Min-seok, spokesman at the South Korean Defence Ministry said on Monday. Strategic assets Washington may utilise in Korea include B-2 bombers, nuclear-powered submarines and F-22 stealth fighter jets. Seoul also said on Monday that it would restrict access to the jointly-run Kaesong industrial complex just north of the heavily militarised inter-Korean border to the “minimum necessary level” starting from Tuesday. 

North Korea’s test last Wednesday angered China, the North’s main ally, which was not given advance notice. 

Separately, South Korea and Japan used their shared military hotline for the first time in the aftermath of North Korea’s nuclear test, a sign the North’s provocation is pushing the two long-time rivals, which are Washington’s main allies in the region, closer together. South Korea has also resumed anti-North propaganda broadcasts using loudspeakers along the border, a tactic that the North considers insulting. 

South Korea’s president Park Geun-hye plans to make a speech to the nation on Wednesday in which she is expected to express strong will to respond to North Korea’s nuclear test, a presidential official said. 

North Korea’s Rodong Sinmun newspaper, the mouthpiece of the ruling Workers’ Party, said that the United States was bringing the political situation to the brink of war by sending strategic bombers to South Korea.