2016年CRI North Korea vows to continue to develop nuclear capability

Friday morning's underground nuclear test in North Korea was not a complete surprise, as activities associated with nuclear weapons testing have been noted 1 around the test facility for the past few months.

However, Su Xiaohui, deputy director of International and Strategic Studies with the China Institute of International Studies, says the timing 2 of the test last week is significant.

"There's a kind of progress in the development of nuclear capacity of the DPRK. The first word is timing. As you may noticed that this nuclear test happened only several months after the last test. This means that the country would like to show to the world that its nuclear capacity is getting progress and the country has a kind of stable technology for their nuclear capacity."

Friday's test follows several ballistic missile launches by North Korea over the past few weeks, including a submarine-based launch.

Su Xiaohui says these moves are a show of Pyongyang's determination in developing nuclear capacity.

The question many observers are asking now is HOW to respond.

Jia Xiudong, senior research fellow with the China Institute of International Studies, says easing tensions can be done through a resumption of the long-stalled 6-party talks.

"So the concern is of course that the latest and their past nuclear tests have shown that it is actually advancing with its nuclear capability 3 and also the ability to develop ballistic missiles. Of course the ambition now is to try to mount a nuclear warhead on its ballistic missile and to make sure that it can pose some threat to South Korea, to the United States. So at this moment we know we should consider another option, that is the resumption of the six-party talks."

The 6-party talks, involving North and South Korea, China, the United States, Japan and Russia, have been shelved since 2009.

Previous attempts to revive the talks in 2012 and 2014 have failed, though back-channel negotiations 4 through a similar process including the countries involved have taken place on occasion.

Jia Xiudong suggests it may be time to consider providing Pyongyang with options.

"An available approach is that we should move on the two and parallel tracks. That is, denuclearization on the one hand, discussion of peace treaty replacing the Armistice 5 Agreement on the other hand."

The Korean War ended in 1953 without the signing of a peace treaty.

It’s been suggested that by signing a peace treaty, it could allow for Pyongyang and Washington to take the first step toward normalizing their relationship.

However, there has been little appetite among US leaders through the years to move down that path.

For CRI, I'm Xie Cheng.