North Korea said today it had carried out a “successful” hydrogen bomb test, a claim that – if true – massively raises the stakes over the hermit state’s banned nuclear programme.
Advertisement
The United States Geological Survey recorded the magnitude of the quake at 5.1 and said it occurred about 10 kilometers below Earth’s surface.
Meanwhile a USA defense official said the department was “looking into the reports of a possible seismic event near North Korean nuclear facilities”.
South Korea’s presidential office convened an emergency security meeting Wednesday morning; Kyodo News reported that Japanese government officials planned to hold an emergency meeting later in the day.
News of the development comes after satellite imagery analysis at the 38 North website late previous year identified activities at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site potentially consistent with a fourth nuclear test.
The North’s bomb test is widely expected to hurt inter-Korean ties, which have remained at a standstill following a recent breakdown in the two Koreas’ recent dialogue.
In a quick announcement, North Korea stated in that the test had been a “complete success”.
South Korea’s Yonhap News agency said President Park Geun-hye will preside over a national security council meeting soon.
North Korea conducted its third nuclear test in February 2013.
South Korea on Wednesday “strongly” condemned North Korea’s shock announcement that it had carried out a hydrogen bomb test and vowed to take “all necessary measures” to penalise its nuclear-armed neighbour.
China’s Xinhua state news agency said the test ran counter to the goal of denuclearisation and warned that any practice that disrupts stability in northeast Asia is “undesirable and unwise”.
Zerbo urged North Korea to refrain from further nuclear testing and join the 183 states who have signed the treaty.
Most attempts to contain North Korea and prevent it from achieving nuclear weapons have focused on China, Pyongyang’s only real ally. Pyongyang has also restarted a plutonium nuclear reactor shuttered after a 2007 nuclear deal that later fell apart.
Advertisement
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (C) watches a firing contest of the KPA artillery units.
