N. Korea ‘quake’ may signal nuke test
AN EARTHQUAKE shook North Korea only hours after nuke-crazy leader Kim Jong Un reportedly inspected a “super explosive” hydrogen bomb produced in his homeland.
The Sunday seismic rumblings in the northern province of Hamgyong suggested the Kim regime had possibly conducted its sixth nuclear test.
The bomb claim reported by state-run media in Pyongyang, coupled with the earthquake, quickly racheted up tensions in both the U.S. and Japanese governments.
The two-minute quake was characterized as an explosion with a 6.3 magnitude by the U.S. Geological Survey.
The Korean News Agency earlier released photos of Kim and his lieutenants examining what was apparently a silver, peanutshaped thermonuclear weapon.
The “homemade” bomb was developed in North Korea, and raises the specter of a nuclear bomb test by the Kim regime — although no one expected it so quickly.
The North Korean claim raised concerns in Washington, Japan and the Korean Peninsula about the state of North Korea’s nuclear arsenal.
President Trump and Japanese President Shinzo Abe, in a Saturday phone call, discussed “ongoing efforts to maximize pressure on North Korea,” according to the White House.
Abe told reporters that he agreed with Trump’s call to keep the heat on Kim in the wake of the latest claims from North Korea.
“The two leaders reaffirmed the importance of close cooperation between the United States, Japan, and South Korea in the face of the growing threat from North Korea,” the White House report on the phone call said.
The North Korean leader inspected the new H-bomb at his nation’s Nuclear Weapons Institute, according to a statement from the state-run Korean News Agency.
In July, North Korea conducted a pair of ICBM tests for the first time — illustrative of the nation’s advancements in nuclear weapons and missiles since Kim took over from his father in 2011.
South Korea’s main spy agency believes their northern neighbors lack the technology to create miniaturized nuclear weapons for mounting on missiles.
Many other experts believe North Korea at best boasts a small number of rudimentary nuclear weapons.