Four rounds of United Nations sanctions have aimed at reining in the North’s nuclear and missile development, but Pyongyang has ignored them and moved ahead with programs to modernize its ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons. But to build a credible nuclear threat, the North must explode new nuclear devices including miniaturized ones so its scientists can improve their designs and technology.
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“By now, the extensive independent analysis that’s been done in the United States and in other countries that includes significant and understandable skepticism about the claims of the North Korean regime”, said spokesman Josh Earnest said.
The head of an global body set up to monitor a planned ban on nuclear testing condemned North Korea’s fourth nuclear test on Wednesday and called it a “wake-up call” for the worldwide community.
The White House says initial evidence shows that North Korea was not able to successfully test a hydrogen bomb, as Pyongyang has claimed.
Hydrogen bombs are significantly more powerful than atomic bombs, which were used during World War II in attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
“It’s probably an effort to enhance the technical nuclear capabilities, but it makes murky any prospect of Kim Jong Un’s visit to China this year if it is indeed a nuclear test”, he said.
US Secretary of State John Kerry meanwhile said he had been in contact with his counterparts, reaffirming US security commitments to its allies in East Asia.
“We absolutely can not allow this”, said Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the Associated Press reported.
“There was no particular change” so far in levels of radiation after Pyongyang’s surprise underground explosion, Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) said in a statement.
We will continue to work closely with our partners on the U.N. Security Council and in the Six-Party Talks to take appropriate action.
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After North Korea last tested a nuclear device, in 2013, Washington sent a pair of nuclear-capable B-2 stealth bombers on a sortie over South Korea in a show of force.
