New test rocks the West

MASSIVE BLAST: EXPERTS SAY IT HAS HALLMARKS OF HYDROGEN BOMB

North Korea continues its show of strength.

Seoul

North Korea conducted a sixth nuclear test yesterday and declared itself in command of a working hydrogen bomb just hours after the explosion.

North Korea said it had detonated a hydrogen bomb “of unprecedently big power” that can be loaded on to a long-range missile.

State media declared the test a complete success and said no radiation had leaked into the atmosphere.

Atomic, or A-bombs, work on the principle of nuclear fission, where energy is released by splitting atoms of enriched uranium or plutonium encased in the warhead.

Hydrogen, or H-bombs, also known as thermonuclear weapons, work on fusion and are far more powerful, with a nuclear blast taking place first to create the intense temperatures required.

There was no immediate independent confirmation of the North’s claim. But the blast was the country’s most powerful to date by far and many experts said it had all the hallmarks of a hydrogen bomb.

The North claimed yesterday’s test marked a “very significant occasion” in achieving the “final goal” of becoming a complete nuclear power.

“I think the North has reached a stage where it no longer needs testing. More tests now will be meaningless,” Koo Kab-woo of the University of North Korean Studies told AFP.

He pointed to the fact that Pakistan – whose nuclear programme is believed to have links with the North’s – conducted six nuclear tests in total and may not have seen a need for any further blasts.

“If we look at it from Pakistan’s example, the North might be in the final stages” of becoming a nuclear state, he said.

Analysts are divided on whether the test could lead to more North Korean provocations, or become an opening for dialogue.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in called for the “strongest punishment” against Pyongyang, and “all diplomatic measures including UNSC sanctions resolutions

to completely isolate North Korea”.

The US has not yet given an official comment about yesterday’s test, although a fiery tweet from Trump could further escalate geopolitical tensions.

After North Korea last week fired a missile over Japan, another US ally, Trump tweeted: “The US

has been talking to North Korea, and paying them extortion money, for 25 years. Talking is not the answer!”

Trump’s rhetoric has appeared to allude to possible military action, but his former chief advisor, Steve Bannon, told The American Prospect: “There’s no military solution, forget it.” –