N Korea’s ‘perfect’ H-bomb test sends global shockwaves
SEOUL: North Korea said it had detonated a hydrogen bomb designed for a long-range missile on Sunday and called its sixth and most powerful nuclear test a “perfect success”, sparking world condemnation and promises of tougher US sanctions.
Pyongyang residents threw their arms aloft in triumph as a jubilant television newsreader hailed the “unprecedentedly large” blast.
But world reaction was swift and angry. US President Donald Trump said on Twitter Pyongyang’s “words and actions continue to be very hostile and dangerous to the United States”.
The US treasury department said it will prepare a package of sanctions that would “cut off North Korea economically”.
In Seoul, President Moon Jae-In called for new United Nations sanctions to “completely isolate North Korea”.
India too strongly condemned the test. In a statement, the external affairs ministry said that it was a matter of deep concern that North Korea had again acted in violation of its international commitments. “We call upon North Korea to refrain from such actions which adversely impact peace and stability in the region and beyond,” it said.
Hours before the test, the North released images of leader Kim Jong-Un at the Nuclear Weapons Institute, inspecting what it said was a miniaturised H-bomb that could be fitted onto an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
US monitors measured a 6.3-magnitude tremor near the North’s main testing site, which South Korean experts said was five to six times stronger than that from the 10-kiloton test carried out a year ago.
The tremor was felt in northeastern China, with people in the border city of Yanji saying they fled their homes in their underwear, and in the Russian Pacific city of Vladivostok. It was even detected as far away as Germany.
Chinese monitors said they had detected a second tremor 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.
Pictures of Kim at the Nuclear Weapons Institute showed the young leader, dressed in a black suit, examining a metal casing with a shape akin to a peanut shell.
The device was a “thermonuclear weapon with super explosive power made by our own efforts and technology”, the Korean Central News Agency cited Kim as saying, and “all components of the H-bomb were 100% domestically made”.
Despite its power there were no radioactive leaks from the test, KCNA said in a later report.
Analysts cautioned that the image had not been verified.