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Posted: 01/07/2016 at 5:01am
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North Korea announces hydrogen bomb test
By
Dan Wooding, Founder of the ASSIST News Service, who has reported from North
Korea
 NORTH KOREA
(ANS – Jan 5, 2016) -- The North Korean authorities say they have
successfully tested a hydrogen bomb amid reports of a tremor near the main
nuclear test site.
According
to the BBC, State media announced the test after monitors detected a 5.1
magnitude quake close to the Punggye-ri site.
The
North is thought to have conducted three previous underground nuclear tests
there since 2006.
A
hydrogen bomb uses fusion to create a blast far more powerful than that of a
more basic atomic bomb.
Stephen
Evans, BBC Korea correspondent, says, “This test was apparently a hydrogen bomb,
a step up in destructive power from the plutonium used in previous tests. It
gives more explosive power for a lighter weight.
“After
the test in 2013, there was widespread condemnation. The UN Security Council
held an emergency meeting at which its members, including China, “strongly
condemned” the test. Similar outrage is expected this time. Prime Minister Abe
of Japan has said this fourth test was a “serious threat to the safety of his
nation.”
“On
top of any fourth nuclear test, North Korea also appears to have tested a
submarine-launched missile. The ability to launch missiles from submarines would
change the whole calculation of military response because warning times of an
attack on, for example, the West Coast of the United States would be much
shorter.
“Before
the test, North Korean state media said the country ‘deserved to hold nuclear
weapons... to counter nuclear threats by the US.’
 “Experts
believed before the fourth test that North Korea was still some years from being
able to hit a target with a nuclear bomb delivered by a missile. But it is
crystal clear that it is absolutely determined to be able to do so. It is also
clear that it is improving its abilities rapidly.”
The
BBC went on to say that If confirmed, it would mean Pyongyang is intent on
pursuing its nuclear program with little regard for the major political and
diplomatic costs that will inevitably accompany this unwelcome development, says
Dr. John Nilsson-Wright of Asia Program at Chatham House.
In
a surprise announcement a newsreader on North Korean state TV said: “The
republic's first hydrogen bomb test has been successfully performed at 10:00 am
on January 6, 2016.”
Last
month, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said Pyongyang had developed a hydrogen
bomb, although international experts were skeptical.
What
is a hydrogen bomb? (BBC)
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A weapon energized by the nuclear fusion of hydrogen isotopes in a chain
reaction, developed in 1958 by the United States
*
Also known as a thermo-nuclear bomb, it is seen as a “cleaner” bomb than an
atomic one as it has less radioactive fallout - but also much more powerful
*
Unlike an atomic bomb, powered by nuclear fission, a hydrogen bomb is powered by
the fusion of lighter elements into heavier elements
*
Such bombs can be as small as a few feet long and can fit in warheads of
ballistic missiles
Suspicion
of a test was first raised after the US Geological Survey said the epicenter of
the quake - detected at 10:00 Pyongyang time (01:30 GMT) was in the north-east
of the country, some 30 miles from Kilju city, near Punggye-ri.
The
BBC's Kevin Kim in Seoul says analysts will now focus on trying to detect if any
gases have leaked from the subterranean explosion to conclude what type of
nuclear material may have been used, if it indeed it was a test of a hydrogen
bomb.
Photo
captions: 1) North Korean leader Kim Jong-un shown attending an apparent
submarine missile test last year. (Reuters). 2) The North's threat coincided
with a visit to Seoul by the US special envoy on North Korea (Photo: Reuters) 3)
Dan Wooding with Dr. David Cho standing by the huge statue of Kim Il-sung,
founder of North Korea, in Pyongyang.
 About
the writer: Dan Wooding, 75, is an award-winning author, broadcaster and
journalist who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, and is now
living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married
for more than 52 years. They have two sons, Andrew and Peter, and six
grandchildren who all live in the UK. He is the author of some 45 books and has
two TV programs and one radio show in Southern California, and has reported
widely for ANS from all over the world, including from North Korea. He is one of
the only a few Christian journalists to be allowed inside North Korea, where he
did daily reports for the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC.
**
You may republish this or any of our ANS stories with attribution to the ASSIST
News Service (www.assistnews.net).
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Topic: North Korea Tests Nuclear Weapon, Sets off Earthquake
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