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.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
RSS