{"id":350297,"date":"2017-09-03T11:00:05","date_gmt":"2017-09-03T11:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=350297"},"modified":"2017-11-10T12:33:17","modified_gmt":"2017-11-10T12:33:17","slug":"north-korea-nuclear-test-hydrogen-bomb-missile-ready","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=350297","title":{"rendered":"North Korea nuclear test: Hydrogen bomb ‘missile-ready’"},"content":{"rendered":"

North Korea says it has successfully tested a nuclear weapon that could be loaded onto a long-range missile.<\/p>\n

The secretive communist state said its sixth nuclear test was a “perfect success”, hours after seismologists had detected an earth tremor.<\/p>\n

Pyongyang said it had tested a hydrogen bomb – a device many times more powerful than an atomic bomb.<\/p>\n

Analysts say the claims should be treated with caution, but its nuclear capability is clearly advancing.<\/p>\n

North Korea last carried out a nuclear test in September 2016. It has defied UN sanctions and international pressure to develop nuclear weapons and to test missiles which could potentially reach the mainland US.<\/p>\n

South Korean officials said the latest test took place in Kilju County, where the North’s Punggye-ri nuclear test site is situated.<\/p>\n

The “artificial quake” was 9.8 times more powerful than the tremor from the North’s fifth test, the state weather agency said.<\/p>\n

It came hours after Pyongyang said it had miniaturised a hydrogen bomb for use on a long-range missile, and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was pictured with what state media said was a new type of hydrogen bomb. State media said the device could be loaded on to a ballistic missile.<\/p>\n

What does the test tell us?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A series of recent missile tests has caused growing international unease.<\/p>\n

In a report on Sunday, the North’s state news agency KCNA said Kim Jong-un had visited scientists at the nuclear weapons institute and “guided the work for nuclear weaponisation”.<\/p>\n

\"North<\/span><\/figure>\n

The North has previously claimed to have miniaturised a nuclear weapon, but experts have cast doubt on this. There is also scepticism about the North’s claims to have developed a hydrogen bomb.<\/p>\n

However, this does appears to be the biggest and most successful nuclear test by North Korea to date – and the messaging is clear. North Korea wants to demonstrate it knows what makes a credible nuclear warhead.<\/p>\n

Kim inspects ‘nuclear warhead’: A picture decoded<\/p>\n

Nuclear weapons expert Catherine Dill told the BBC it was not yet clear exactly what nuclear weapon design was tested.<\/p>\n

“But based on the seismic signature, the yield of this test definitely is an order of magnitude higher than the yields of the previous tests.”<\/p>\n

Current information did not definitively indicate that a thermonuclear weapon had been tested “but it appears to be a likely possibility at this point”, she said.<\/p>\n

Hydrogen bombs use fusion – the merging of atoms – to unleash huge amounts of energy, whereas atomic bombs use nuclear fission, or the splitting of atoms.<\/p>\n

What has the reaction been?<\/strong><\/p>\n

South Korean President Moon Jae-in said North Korea’s sixth nuclear test should be met with the “strongest possible” response, including new United Nations Security Council sanctions to “completely isolate” the country.<\/p>\n

China, North Korea’s only major ally, condemned the test.<\/p>\n

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 in a statement.<\/p>\n

And Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary, Yoshihide Suga, also condemned the test and said sanctions against North Korea should include restrictions on the trade of oil products.<\/p>\n

How can the world respond?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jonathan Marcus, BBC defence and diplomatic correspondent<\/strong><\/p>\n

North Korea’s sixth nuclear test – probably its largest so far – sends out one clear political signal.<\/p>\n

Despite the bluster and threats from the Trump administration in Washington and near-universal condemnation from around the world, Pyongyang is not going to halt or constrain its nuclear activities.<\/p>\n

Worryingly, it also suggests that this is a programme that is progressing on all fronts at a faster rate than many had expected. So far all efforts to pressure North Korea – sanctions, isolation, and military threats – have all failed to move Pyongyang.<\/p>\n

Could more be done? Certainly, but the harshest economic pressure would potentially cripple the regime and push it towards catastrophe – something China is unwilling to countenance.<\/p>\n

Containment and deterrence will now come to the fore as the world adjusts its policy from seeking to roll-back Pyongyang’s weapons programme to living with a nuclear-armed North Korea.<\/p>\n

How did news of the test emerge?<\/p>\n

The first suggestion that this was to be a far from normal Sunday in the region came when seismologists’ equipment started picking up readings of an earth tremor in the area where North Korea has conducted nuclear tests before.<\/p>\n

Initial reports from the US Geological Survey put the tremor at 5.6 magnitude with a depth of 10km (six miles) but this was later upgraded to 6.3 magnitude at 0km.<\/p>\n

\"USGS<\/span><\/figure>\n

Then Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono said there was no doubt this was North Korea’s sixth nuclear test.<\/p>\n

Finally, in a radio broadcast that had been trailed as a “major announcement”, North Korean state media confirmed this was no earthquake.<\/p>\n

\"Map<\/span><\/figure>\n

–<\/p>\n

Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

North Korea says it has successfully tested a nuclear weapon that could be loaded onto a long-range missile. The secretive communist state said its sixth nuclear test was a “perfect success”, hours after seismologists had detected an earth tremor. Pyongyang said it had tested a hydrogen bomb – a device many times more powerful than […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[107],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-350297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-international"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=350297"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350297\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=350297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=350297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=350297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}