North’s nuclear test a shocker

NORTH Korea appeared to carry out a sixth nuclear test yesterday, possibly of a hydrogen bomb more powerful than any device it has previously detonated, presenting US President Donald Trump with an unprecedented challenge.

Monitors measured a 6.3magnitude tremor near its main testing site, which South Korean experts reportedly said was nearly 10 times more powerful than the 10-kiloton test carried out a year ago.

The explosion came just hours after the North claimed to have developed a hydrogen bomb that could be loaded on to the country’s new intercontinental ballistic missile.

Hydrogen bombs or Hbombs – also known as thermonuclear devices – are far more powerful than the relatively simple atomic weapons the North was believed to have tested so far.

Analysts’ initial estimates of the yield from yesterday’s test varied, ranging from 100 kilotons up to one megaton.

Either way, Jeffrey Lewis of the armscontrolwonk website on Twitter, said it was “a staged thermonuclear weapon” which represents a significant advance in its weapons program.

Chinese monitors said they had detected a second quake shortly afterwards of 4.6 magnitude that could be due to a “collapse (cave in)”, suggesting the rock over the underground blast had given way.

Pyongyang has long sought the means to deliver an atomic warhead to the United States, its sworn enemy. A new test would infuriate Washington, Tokyo, Seoul, Beijing and others.

Tokyo said the tremor was a nuclear blast. “After examining the data we concluded that it was a nuclear test,” Foreign Minister Taro Kono said at a briefing broadcast by public broadcaster NHK following a meeting of Japan’s National Security Council.

South Korean President

AFTER EXAMINING THE DATA WE CONCLUDED THAT IT WAS A NUCLEAR TEST

Moon Jae-In summoned the National Security Council for an emergency meeting and Seoul’s military raised its alert level.

Pyongyang triggered a new ramping up of tensions in July, when it carried out two successful tests of an ICBM, the Hwasong-14, which apparently brought much of the US mainland within range.

It has since threatened to send a salvo of rockets towards the US territory of Guam, and late last month fired a missile over Japan and into the Pacific, the first time it has ever acknowledged doing so.

US President Donald Trump has warned Pyongyang that it faces “fire and fury”, and that Washington’s weapons are “locked and loaded”.

TARO KONO