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North Korea tests missile-ready hydrogen bomb
South Korean President Moon Jae-in called for the “strongest punishment” against North Korea while China and Russia both strongly condemned the test.
Fears grow as Pyongyang conducts most powerful N-test Pyongyang : North Korea on Sunday said it had successfully conducted a test of a hydrogen bomb that can be loaded onto a intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), state media reported. Hours after the North’s sixth nuclear detonation, an announcer on its official Korean Central Television declared:
“The hydrogen bomb test was a perfect success.” Earlier monitors measured a 6.3-magnitude tremor near its main testing site, which South Korean experts reportedly said was nearly 10 times more powerful than the 10-kiloton test carried out a year ago. US President Donald Trump called North Korea’s actions “very hostile and dangerous” in a series of tweets.
“North Korea has conducted a major Nuclear Test,” Trump wrote. “Their words and actions continue to be very hostile and dangerous to the United States.”
Trump said the latest nuclear test was an embarrassment for China and proved that South Korea’s “talk of appeasement” was a waste of time.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in called for the “strongest punishment” against North Korea while China and Russia both strongly condemned the test.
China’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that China “expresses its firm opposition (to the test) and strongly condemns it.” North Korea “has ignored the international community’s widespread opposition, again carrying out a nuclear test. China’s government expresses resolute opposition and strong condemnation toward this,” the foreign ministry said.
The explosion came as the five BRICS nations hold their annual summit in China under the shadow of growing tensions on the Korean peninsula. BRICS countries are China, Russia, India, Brazil and South Africa.
Hydrogen bombs – also known as thermonuclear devices – are far more powerful than the relatively simple atomic weapons the North was believed to have tested so far. Analysts’ initial estimates of the yield from Sunday’s test varied, ranging from 100 kilotons up to one megaton.
Chinese monitors said they had detected a second quake soon afterwards of 4.6 magnitude that could be due to a “collapse (cave in)”, suggesting the rock over the underground blast had given way.
Pyongyang has long sought the means to deliver an atomic warhead to the United States, its sworn enemy. A new test would be certain to infuriate Washington, Tokyo, Seoul, Beijing and others. Tokyo said the tremor was a nuclear blast, which Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had said would be “absolutely unacceptable.”
Trump has warned Pyongyang that it faces “fire and fury”, and that Washington’s weapons are “locked and loaded”. Analysts believe Pyongyang has been developing its weapons to give it a stronger hand in any negotiations with the US.
