North Korea announced Sunday that it had successfully tested a hydrogen bomb that they said earlier in the day could be mounted to an intercontinental ballistic missile.
The initial explosion triggered a magnitude 6.3 earthquake followed by a magnitude 4.1 earthquake that seemed to be a tunnel collapse at the site, the U.S. Geological Survey said, reports The Wall Street Journal.
This test caused a larger tremor than any previous test the rogue regime has conducted.
Because earthquakes are measured using a logarithmic scale, the magnitude-6.3 tremor was 10 times bigger than the one triggered by the North’s previous nuclear test in September 2016, which registered as a magnitude-5.3 quake, according to the USGS.
The Korea Meteorological Administration in Seoul put the magnitude of Sunday’s initial earthquake at 5.7
The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization said seismic signals were picked up by 35 monitoring stations, suggesting that the size of the explosion was much larger than last time, when signals were picked up by 26 stations. (WSJ)
Nuclear scientists estimated the test was nearly seven times more powerful than the bomb the U.S. dropped on Hiroshima, Japan in 1945.
Vipin Narang, an expert on nuclear proliferation at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, called the test a “city buster.”
“Now, with even relatively inaccurate intercontinental ballistic missile technology, they can destroy the better part of a city with this yield,” Narang said.
Earlier Sunday the Korean Central News Agency released photos of Kim Jong Un inspecting the hydrogen bomb and later televised him signing the order to test it.
The state run news agency quoted Kim as saying that all the materials for the “H-bomb” were “homemade” so the country could produce “powerful nuclear weapons as many as it wants.”
South Korea and Japan strongly denounced the test, with Japan debating whether to pre-emptively strike.
President Trump also weighed in on Twitter early Sunday morning.
“North Korea has conducted a major Nuclear Test. Their words and actions continue to be very hostile and dangerous to the United States North,” he said. “Korea is a rogue nation which has become a great threat and embarrassment to China, which is trying to help but with little success.”
"South Korea is finding, as I have told them, that their talk of appeasement with North Korea will not work, they only understand one thing!" Trump added.
North Korea has conducted a major Nuclear Test. Their words and actions continue to be very hostile and dangerous to the United States.....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 3, 2017
..North Korea is a rogue nation which has become a great threat and embarrassment to China, which is trying to help but with little success.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 3, 2017
South Korea is finding, as I have told them, that their talk of appeasement with North Korea will not work, they only understand one thing!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 3, 2017
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