Regional powers to meet this week over N. Korea’s nuclear test

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

South Korea also said 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” from Tuesday.

In Washington, White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough said on Sunday the flight underscored to South Korea “the deep and enduring alliance that we have with them”.

US and South Korean media reports have speculated that the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan – now based in Japan – as well as B-2 stealth bombers and F-22 stealth fighter jets are among the deployments being considered.

The commander of combined forces, Curtis Scaparrotti, made the order during a visit to the Osan Air Base which is operated jointly by the US and South Korea, a United States Forces Korea (USFK) official said.

Its creation allowed South Korean companies to benefit from the low cost of North Korean labor.

The day after the USA flew a strategic B-52 bomber over the Korean peninsula, Seoul has announced that negotiations are underway to secure further “strategic assets” from Washington to be deployed in South Korea against the threat from the North. The South has already restarted border propaganda broadcasts.

Asked if such a step might spur North Korea to move more aggressively on its atomic weapons programme, the official replied: “That’s a distinct possibility”. A top North Korean official told a rally on Friday that the broadcasts had pushed the rival Koreas to the “brink of war”. Meanwhile, North Korea gained a valuable stream of hard currency revenue by appropriating an undisclosed amount of salary from its citizens working in Kaesong.

The Ministry of Unification said with the latest measure, the number of South Koreans staying at the inter-Korean complex will decrease to about 650 from the usual 800.

“This was a demonstration of the ironclad U.S. commitment to our allies in South Korea, in Japan, and to the defense of the American homeland”, Adm. Harry B. Harris Jr., commander U.S. Pacific Command, said.

Kim’s comments were in line with the North’s official rhetoric blaming the USA for deploying nuclear weapons on the Korean peninsula to justify its nuclear program but were the first by its leader since Wednesday’s blast.

The center, opened on January 1 by Kim Jong Un, is centered around a replica of the 2012 rocket that launched North Korea’s first and only satellite into orbit.