Atomic test applies pressure to re-engage North Korea

Significance

South Korea's defence ministry said today that a sixth test is possible at any time, with one tunnel at the North's Punggye-ri test site still unused. Yesterday, Seoul's semi-official news agency Yonhap quoted a military source in Seoul as threatening to "raze" Pyongyang pre-emptively, should the North show any sign of planning a nuclear attack.

Impacts

• In the immediate future the US presidential election creates a policy vacuum.
• In Seoul calls will grow for South Korea to have its own nuclear weapons, or host US ones.
• If the North keeps testing, it will grow harder for Washington to head off such demands.
• Beijing, which has always insisted that sanctions must be backed up by diplomacy, is now pressed to produce concrete proposals.
• Violent Southern language reflects the humiliation of Park Geun-hye's administration, whose time is running out -- another risk factor.