CRI听力:Nations to Hold Talks on North Korea Nuclear Program

Representatives of South Korea, China, the United States and Japan are set to meet this week to discuss ways to convince North Korea to dismantle its nuclear weapons program.

This come on the heels of North Korea's latest nuclear test this past week.

As part fo the meetings, South Korea's envoy to the long-stalled 6-party disarmament talks will meet with US and Japanese officials in Seoul on Wednesday before travelling here to China on Thursday.

He's also set to meet with Russian officials at an unspecified date.

Meanwhile, South Korea's Defense Ministry has confirmed its in discussions with the United States about additional US deployments in South Korea.

South Korean Defense Ministry spokesperson Kim Min-seok.

"The United States and South Korea are continuously and closely having discussions on additional deployment of strategic assets on the Korean peninsula."

The announcement comes just a day after a US B-52 bomber flew over South Korea in response to North Korea's nuclear test last week.

The bomber, armed with a nuclear missile, flew over an airbase near Seoul before returning to its base in Guam.

North Korean top leader Kim Jong Un has defended Wednesday's nuclear test as a self-defensive step against a US threat of nuclear war.

The North has also expanded propaganda broadcasts in border areas in response to South Korea's resumption of its broadcasts on Friday.

In addition to its psycological warfare, Seoul is also going to restrict the entry of South Korean workers into the joint Kaesong industrial complex.

This is expected to slow production at the South Korean-operated plants, which employ thousands of North Korean workers, potentially forcing them out of work.

For more on the situation on the Korean Peninsula, CRI's Michael Butterworth spoke with Ted Galen Carpenter, Senior Fellow in Defense and Foreign Policy Studies at the Washington-based Cato Institute.