Spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a regularly scheduled news conference that Beijing had not been warned before the test and would summon Pyongyang’s ambassador in Beijing to lodge a protest.
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Current US policy, backed by ally South Korea is one of “no reward for bad behaviour” and requires North Korea to take a tangible step towards denuclearisation before proper talks can begin – a pre-condition many view as hopelessly unrealistic.
In Seoul and elsewhere there was high-level worry.
Some questions and answers about what the Pentagon called an “unacceptable and irresponsible provocation” that threatens peace in Asia.
Q. Is it reasonable to think the North Koreans could have graduated to the technical skill required to build a hydrogen bomb?
The nuclear test violates non-proliferation agreements and UN Security Council resolutions, Brende told NTB news agency. He told reporters, “the Security Council needs to be clear in its condemnation and robust in its response”.
Still, even some former Obama administration officials say the administration’s insistence that it would not talk to North Korea unless the North agreed the ultimate outcome was complete nuclear disarmament was a prescription for failure.
Hydrogen bombs use a two-step process of fission and fusion that releases substantially more energy. H-bomb or no H-bomb, nuclear weapons are the country’s insurance policy, and the latest test was a sign that it has no intention of cashing it in.
“The apparent yield of the [North Korean] event is too small”, says Jeffrey Lewis, of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey.
A hydrogen bomb has a yield measured in megatonnes, whereas fission weapons typically have a yield measured in kilotonnes.
“But North Korea is like that Glenn Close character from Fatal Attraction”.
Q. If North Korea did obtain a nuclear weapon that it could attach to a long-range missile, would the US have a way to defend against it?
“From China’s perspective, North Korean nuclear weapons are a bad thing, but the collapse of the North Korean regime would be a worse thing”, DeThomas said.
If the North Koreans really have mastered the engineering of a thermonuclear weapon, it would marginally increase the severity of that threat. “That’s what the Americans did; that’s what the Russians did”.
“And the test is just the latest of a series of violations we have witnessed in recent months, including artillery barrages and landmine attacks”.
University student Ri Sol Yong, 22, said, “If we didn’t have powerful nuclear weapons, we would already have been turned into the slaves of the U.S”.
It could be weeks before the true nature of the test is confirmed by outside experts, if they are able to do so at all. Since boosting technically involves the fusion of hydrogen, North Korea could call this test a “hydrogen bomb”. We have also proves scientifically the power of miniaturized hydrogen bombs. “But maybe we’ll be lucky”.
But there was no real clarity on what form the sanctions might take, or when the package would be drawn up. It put pressure on China to rein in neighbouring North Korea. It would also penalize those involved in business providing North Korea with hard currency. It is easier to mount Hydrogen bombs on missiles as they are small size, point out experts. But debate is growing on just how far the North has advanced.
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South Korea has also said a fourth test would be a watershed moment that would warrant a response. State media later crowed that its “H-bomb of justice” lets it stand firm against USA aggression. The park’s operation won’t likely be affected much as the restriction will apply to clients, potential buyers and service providers from South Korea, rather than managers who commute to work with North Korean laborers. The isolated nation is surrounded by global monitoring stations of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization, which seeks to track nuclear testing worldwide.
