Washington and nuclear experts have been skeptical about past North Korean claims about H-bombs, which are much more powerful and much more hard to make, than atomic bombs. Ned Price, a spokesman for the White House National Security Council, said in a statement that American officials “cannot confirm these claims at this time”. The Security Council quickly announced an emergency meeting.
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The worlds most powerful hydrogen bomb was detonated on the 30th of October 1961.
A successful H-bomb test would be a big step for the North. In a hydrogen bomb, radiation from a nuclear fission explosion sets off a fusion reaction responsible for a powerful blast and radioactivity. The device had a yield of about 6 kilotonnes, according to the office of a South Korean lawmaker on the parliamentary intelligence committee – roughly the same size as the North’s last test, which was equivalent to 6-7 kilotonnes of TNT. Lee Choel-woo, a ruling Saenuri party’s lawmaker had stated to journalists that “The power of third nuclear test was 7.9 kilotons, but this time was 6.0 kiloton”.
“China’s attitude is tough, but the means at its disposal are limited”, said Jin Qiang, a professor at Yanbian University’s Institute of Northeast Asia Studies in Jilin province bordering North Korea.
The test is bound to figure in the American presidential campaign, where several candidates have already cited the North’s nuclear experimentation as evidence of American weakness – though they have not prescribed alternative strategies for choking off the program.
But hydrogen bombs use fusion, which take small atoms – such as hydrogen – and combine them.
It could take weeks before the true nature of the test is confirmed by outside experts – if they are able to do so at all. The nuclear test drew condemnation overseas, with China, the North’s chief ally, expressing “resolute opposition” and saying it would lodge a protest with Pyongyang. “This H-bomb test brings us to a higher level of nuclear power”. Japanese media said Tokyo has also mobilized its own reconnaissance aircraft for sorties over the Sea of Japan to try to collect atmospheric data.
The alleged thermonuclear bomb test was North Korea’s fourth nuclear test. The secretive communist state conducted three previous nuclear tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013.
Other Seoul citizens have also shown concerns over the North’s unforeseeable provocation.
Soon after the test, China’s foreign ministry said it “firmly opposes” Pyongyang’s nuclear test (link in Chinese).
The development illustrates the continuing challenge North Korea poses to its neighbors and the world.
North Korea is thought to have a handful of rudimentary nuclear bombs and has spent decades trying to flawless a multistage, long-range missile to eventually carry smaller versions of those bombs.
“North Korea appears to have had a hard time mastering even the basics of a fission weapon”, wrote Bruce Bennett, a senior defense analyst at the Rand Corp, in a piece for CNN.com last month.
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Speculation among Korea watchers focused on the possibility that thin-skinned North Koreans were protesting over a perceived slight from the Chinese side, possibly over the song selection or guest list. Such tests advance its aims to build nuclear-tipped missiles that can be used as deterrents against its enemies – and especially against the United States, which Pyongyang has long pushed to withdraw its troops from the region and to sign a peace treaty formally ending the Korean War.
