North Korea’s missile claim may propel nations to review their defence

Kim Jong-Un

NORTH Korea’s claim to have tested a miniaturized hydrogen bomb, which would represent a big advance in its strike capability, could lead to renewed calls for countries in the region to enhance their missile defenses.
According to Reuters analysts and military attaches have said China would however be watching closely for signs that the United States and Japan are exploring improved ballistic missile defense, or whether Washington would lean more heavily on South Korea to adopt its advanced high-altitude missile system, a technology Seoul has so far turned down.
There is considerable doubt over the veracity of Pyongyang’s assertion that Wednesday’s explosion was a full-fledged test of a hydrogen device, but it could mark an advance in the secretive state’s nuclear technology.
It came after warnings from senior U.S. military officials last April that they believed North Korea had the ability to miniaturize a warhead and mount it on a ballistic missile, posing a potential new threat to the United States, Japan and South Korea.
Any move to boost missile defenses could inflame growing military rivalry between China and Washington and its allies. That rivalry is playing out most visibly in the waters of the South China Sea, a vital trade route the United States fears Beijing wants to militarize, despite China’s denials.
“China will be very sensitive about any moves by Japan or South Korea to improve missile defenses,” said Zhang Baohui, a mainland nuclear security expert at Hong Kong’s Lingnan University. “North Korea may be the stated reason, but Chinese strategists will see it as a move against China to limit its nuclear deterrence.”
Zhang said he believed that, publicly at least, China would offer only a muted response to the latest test, given Beijing’s desire for normalized ties with the isolated buffer state.
Richard Bitzinger, a security analyst at Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, said North Korea’s actions potentially provided a “fig leaf” rationale for Japan to buttress its defenses against its bigger security worry, China.
Chinese fears are particularly acute over sophisticated high-altitude ballistic missile defenses that U.S. military officials have said were needed in South Korea, integrated with its own less-advanced systems.






Source: THEGUARDIAN