North Korea yesterday said it successfully tested a miniaturized hydrogen nuclear device, claiming a significant advance in its strike capability and setting off alarm bells in Japan and South Korea.
The test, the fourth time the state has exploded a nuclear device, was ordered by young leader Kim Jong-un and successfully conducted at 10am, the official Korean Central News Agency said.
“Let the world look up to the strong, self-reliant nuclear-armed state,” Kim wrote in what North Korean state TV displayed as a handwritten note.
Photo: Reuters
The reported nuclear test drew condemnation abroad.
While a fourth nuclear test had been long expected, the claim that it was a hydrogen device, much more powerful than an atomic bomb, came as a surprise, as did the timing.
However, South Korean intelligence officials and several analysts questioned whether yesterday’s explosion was indeed a full-fledged test of a hydrogen device.
The device had a yield of about 6 kilotonnes, according to a South Korean lawmaker on the parliamentary intelligence committee — about the same size as the North’s last test, which was equivalent to 6 to 7 kilotonnes of TNT.
“Given the scale, it is hard to believe this is a real hydrogen bomb,” said Yang Uk, a senior research fellow at the Korea Defense and Security Forum and a policy adviser to the South Korean navy.
“They could have tested some middle stage kind [of device] between an A-bomb and H-bomb, but unless they come up with any clear evidence, it is difficult to trust their claim,” he said.
Joe Cirincione, a nuclear expert who is president of Ploughshares Fund, a global security organization, said North Korea might have mixed a hydrogen isotope in a normal atomic fission bomb.
“Because it is, in fact, hydrogen, they could claim it is a hydrogen bomb,” he said. “But it is not a true fusion bomb capable of the massive multi-megaton yields these bombs produce.”
The US Geological Survey reported a magnitude 5.1 earthquake that South Korea said was 49km from the Punggye-ri site where the North has conducted nuclear tests in the past.
The claim of miniaturizing, which would allow the device to be adapted as a weapon and placed on a missile, would also pose a new threat to the US, Japan and South Korea.
However, the North’s previous miniaturization claims have not been independently verified.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Tokyo would make a firm response to North Korea’s challenge against nuclear non-proliferation.
South Korea said it would take all possible measures, including possible UN sanctions, to ensure Pyongyang paid the price after its fourth nuclear test.
“The government must now work closely with the international community to ensure that North Korea pays the commensurate price for the latest nuclear test,” South Korean President Park Geun-hye said in a statement.
“We must respond decisively through measures such as strong international sanctions,” she said.
The EU said that the test, if confirmed, would be a grave violation of international obligations.
NATO condemned the test, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia was “extremely worried” and China urged the North to honor its commitment to denuclearization.
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
NO CHANGE: The TRA makes clear that the US does not consider the status of Taiwan to have been determined by WWII-era documents, a former AIT deputy director said The American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) comments that World War-II era documents do not determine Taiwan’s political status accurately conveyed the US’ stance, the US Department of State said. An AIT spokesperson on Saturday said that a Chinese official mischaracterized World War II-era documents as stating that Taiwan was ceded to the China. The remarks from the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan drew criticism from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, whose director said the comments put Taiwan in danger. The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday reported that a US State Department spokesperson confirmed the AIT’s position. They added that the US would continue to
IMPORTANT BACKER: China seeks to expel US influence from the Indo-Pacific region and supplant Washington as the global leader, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said China is preparing for war to seize Taiwan, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said in Washington on Friday, warning that Taiwan’s fall would trigger a regional “domino effect” endangering US security. In a speech titled “Maintaining the Peaceful and Stable Status Quo Across the Taiwan Strait is in Line with the Shared Interests of Taiwan and the United States,” Chiu said Taiwan’s strategic importance is “closely tied” to US interests. Geopolitically, Taiwan sits in a “core position” in the first island chain — an arc stretching from Japan, through Taiwan and the Philippines, to Borneo, which is shared by
RSS