North Korea claims 'perfect success' in sixth nuclear test

Pyongyang claimed the device it tested was a thermonuclear weapon – commonly called a hydrogen bomb. The test comes one week after North Korea launched a midrange missile over northern Japan in response to ongoing U.S.-South Korea military exercises.

|
Lee Jin-man/ AP
Earthquake and Volcano of the Korea Monitoring Division Director Ryoo Yong-gyu speaks in front of a screen showing seismic waves that were measured on the South Korean peninsula, in Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, Sept. 3, 2017. North Korean TV says the country has successfully conducted a test of a hydrogen bomb that is meant to be loaded into an intercontinental ballistic missile.

North Korea on Sunday claimed a "perfect success" for its most powerful nuclear test so far, a further step in the development of weapons capable of striking anywhere in the United States. President Trump said the latest provocation reinforces the danger facing America and that "talk of appeasement" is pointless.

"They only understand one thing!" Mr. Trump said in a tweet, without elaboration, as he prepared to meet later with his national security team. It was the first nuclear test since Trump took office in January.

The precise strength of the explosion, described by state-controlled media in North Korea as a hydrogen bomb, has yet to be determined. South Korea's weather agency said the artificial earthquake caused by the explosion was five times to six times stronger than tremors generated by the North's previous five such tests. The impact reportedly shook buildings in China and in Russia.

Trump warned last month that the U.S. military was "locked and loaded, should North Korea act unwisely" and that the U.S. would unleash "fire and fury" on the North if it continued to threaten America. The bellicose words followed threats from North Korea to launch ballistic missiles toward the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam, intending to create "enveloping fire" near the military hub that's home to U.S. bombers.

The North's latest test was carried out at 12:29 p.m. local time at the Punggye-ri site where it has conducted past nuclear tests. Officials in Seoul put the magnitude at 5.7; the U.S. Geological Survey said it was a magnitude 6.3. The strongest artificial quake from previous tests was a magnitude 5.3.

"North Korea has conducted a major Nuclear Test. Their words and actions continue to be very hostile and dangerous to the United States," Trump said in the first of a series of tweets.

He branded North Korea "a rogue nation which has become a great threat and embarrassment to China, which is trying to help but with little success."

China is by far the North's biggest trading partner, but Trump appeared to be more critical of South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who has attempted to reach out to the North.

"South Korea is finding, as I have told them, that their talk of appeasement with North Korea will not work, they only understand one thing!" Trump said.

North Korea's state-run television broadcast a special bulletin to announce the test and said leader Kim Jong-un attended a meeting of the ruling party's presidium and signed the go-ahead order. Earlier, the party's newspaper ran a front-page story showing photos of Mr. Kim examining what it said was a nuclear warhead being fitted onto the nose of an intercontinental ballistic missile.

Sunday's detonation builds on recent North Korean advances that include test launches in July of two ICBMs that are believed to be capable of reaching the mainland U.S. The North says its missile development is part of a defensive effort to build a viable nuclear deterrent that can target U.S. cities.

China's foreign ministry said in a statement that the Beijing government has "expressed firm opposition and strong condemnation" and urged North Korea to "stop taking erroneous actions that deteriorate the situation."

South Korea held a National Security Council meeting chaired by Mr. Moon. Officials in Seoul also said Trump's national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, spoke with his South Korean counterpart for 20 minutes about an hour after the detonation.

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called the test "absolutely unacceptable."

Nuclear tests are crucial to perfecting sophisticated technologies and to demonstrating to the world that claims of nuclear prowess are not merely a bluff.

The North claimed the device it tested was a thermonuclear weapon – commonly called a hydrogen bomb. That could be hard to independently confirm. It said the underground test site did not leak radioactive materials, which would make such a determination even harder.

At the same time, the simple power of the blast was convincing. Japan's Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said it might have been as powerful as 70 kilotons. North Korea's previous largest was thought to be anywhere from 10 to 30 kilotons.

"We cannot deny it was an H-bomb test," Mr. Onodera said.

North Korea conducted two nuclear tests last year and has been launching missiles at a record pace this year. It fired a potentially nuclear-capable midrange missile over northern Japan last week in response to ongoing U.S.-South Korea military exercises.

It said that launch was the "curtain raiser" for more activity to come.

Just before Sunday's test, according to state media, Kim and the other senior leaders at the party presidium meeting discussed "detailed ways and measures for containing the U.S. and other hostile forces' vicious moves for sanctions."

The photos released earlier showed Kim talking with his lieutenants as he observed a silver, peanut-shaped device that the state-run media said was designed to be mounted on the North's "Hwasong-14" ICBM.

The North claims the device was made domestically and has explosive power that can range from tens to hundreds of kilotons. For context, the bomb dropped on Hiroshima by the U.S. had a 15-kiloton yield.

North Korea's recent activity has been especially bold.

The North followed its two ICBM tests by announcing a plan to fire intermediate range missiles toward Guam. Kim signed off on the plan, but is watching the moves by the U.S. before deciding when or whether to carry it out.

Guam is a sore point for the North because it is home to a squadron of B-1B bombers that the North fears could be used to attack their country. The U.S. on Thursday had sent the bombers and F-35 stealth fighters to the sky over South Korea in a show of force – and North Korea strongly protested.

Options to pressure Pyongyang would appear to be limited. Further economic and trade sanctions, increased diplomatic pressure and boosting military maneuvers or shows of force would likely all be on the table.

The two Koreas have shared the world's most heavily fortified border since their war in the early 1950s ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty. About 28,500 American troops are deployed in South Korea as deterrence against North Korea.

AP writers Foster Klug, Youkyung Lee and Kim Tong-hyung in Seoul, Gillian Wong in Beijing and Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to North Korea claims 'perfect success' in sixth nuclear test
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2017/0903/North-Korea-claims-perfect-success-in-sixth-nuclear-test
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe