Kim Jong-un signs the order for the nuclear test. KCNA
The Guardian: North Korea nuclear test meets with familiar response from White House
Obama administration greets fourth test in a decade with usual approach of ‘strategic patience’, as Republicans once again call for harsher measures.
Barack Obama’s administration has greeted North Korea’s fourth nuclear test in a decade with the same mix of condemnation, exasperation and pleas for collective action prompted by Pyongyang’s previous nuclear detonations.
Once again, US officials said they refused to accept North Korea as a nuclear state – even though two decades of diplomacy, sanctions, and threats have failed to reverse the country’s nuclear programme.
An emergency meeting of the UN security council is expected to add economic sanctions atop longstanding ones intended to punish Kim Jong-un’s nuclear violations. A senior US State Department official said: “We would like to see additional sanctions that are very tough to continue to hold this regime to account.”
Update: Some tension, but trade uninterrupted at China-North Korea border (Reuters)
WNU Editor: Nothing will change. But expect more U.S. military personnel and equipment to be deployed, weapons to be sold, and a greater international focus on North Korea. But the Chinese are going to be miffed for a few months.
