The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

North Korea: H-bomb loaded

ICBM claim raises tensions, already high, on peninsula.

- By Foster Klug

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspected the loading of a hydrogen bomb into a new interconti­nental ballistic missile, Pyongyang’s state media said Sunday, a claim to technologi­cal mastery that some outside experts will doubt but that will raise already high worries on the Korean Peninsula.

North Korea is working to build an arsenal of nuclear ICBMs that can reach the U.S. mainland. Kim’s inspection came during what the Korean Central News Agency said was a visit to the North’s Nuclear Weapons Institute.

“The explosive power of the bomb is adjustable from tens kiloton to hundreds kiloton,” the state-run Korean news agency said.

North Korea in July conducted its first ICBM tests, part of a stunning jump in progress for the country’s nuclear and missile program since Kim rose to power following his father’s death in late 2011.

The North conducted two nuclear tests last year alone. The first involved what it claims to have been a hydrogen bomb and the second was its most powerful ever. Experts and outside government­s are skeptical of the hydrogen claim,and it is almost impossible to independen­tly confirm North Korean statements about its highly secret weapons program.

The key question is how far North Korea has gotten in efforts to shrink nuclear warheads so they can fit on long-range missiles.

South Korea’s main spy agency has previously asserted that it does not think Pyongyang currently has the ability to develop miniaturiz­ed nuclear weapons that can be mounted on ballistic missiles. But some experts think the North may have mastered this technology.

North Korea is thought to have a handful of rudimentar­y nuclear bombs and has spent decades trying to perfect a multistage, long-range missile to eventually carry smaller versions of them.

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