A hydrogen bomb test is successfully conducted in North Korea, capital city Pyongyang reports confirmed.
After it got exploded at 10am today at the Punggye-ri test site in the north east of the country, the thermonuclear weapon triggered a 5.1 magnitude on the Richter scale. Reportedly, the tremors were felt many miles away.
Its ignition ends weeks of speculation that Supreme leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-Un, had developed such a weapon, which is lighter yet even more powerful than other nuclear bombs.
“The republic's first hydrogen bomb test has been successfully performed at 10am on January 6, 2016, based on the strategic determination of the Workers' Party,” as per the local TV reporter.
The reporter confirmed, “A 'miniaturized' hydrogen bomb had been detonated in an operation that was deemed a 'perfect success'. In doing so, North Korea had elevated their 'nuclear might to the next level', providing a weapon to defend against the United States and its other enemies.”
The successful detonation marks a major step in North Korea's nuclear development and is bound to cause considerable anxiety to neighboring countries.
Earlier, Kim Jong-Un had suggested Pyongyang had already developed a hydrogen bomb, even though the claim was greeted with skepticism, by a few of the international experts.
A hydrogen, or thermonuclear device, uses fusion in a chain reaction that results in a far more powerful explosion than a standard nuclear device.
Like other types of nuclear explosion, the explosion of a hydrogen bomb creates an extremely hot zone near its center. Because of the high temperature in this zone, nearly all of the matter present is vaporized to form a gas at a very high pressure.
Previously, North Korea had hinted that, it had possessed more powerful weapons and the existence of such a bomb has been confirmed today.
If verified by the experts, the test would lead to a strong push for new, tougher sanctions against North Korea at the United Nations, and further worsen the relations between Pyongyang and its neighbours, which are already in the worst condition.
Responding to the test, Cho Tae-yong, a senior security official said, “Our Government strongly condemns North Korea ignoring repeated warnings from us and the international community and pushing ahead with the fourth nuclear test, which clearly violated the U.N resolutions.”
North Korean nuclear tests worry Washington and others because each new blast is seen as pushing North Korea's scientists and engineers closer to their goal of an arsenal of nuclear-tipped missiles, that can reach the US.
Meanwhile, Chinese and South Korean officials, speculated that the earthquake was 'man-made'. South Korea's Met Agency considered it 'highly likely' that the 5.1 magnitude earthquake was caused by nuclear testing.
Yun Byung-se, the country's Foreign Minister immediately called an emergency meeting. The U.N organization tasked with monitoring the world for signs of nuclear testing confirmed the detection of 'an unusual event in the Korean Peninsula.'
Another statement from Lassina Zerbo, head of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organisation, read, “Our International Monitoring System detected an unusual seismic event in the Korean Peninsula at latitude 41.27 longitude 129.10.”
Even, the US Geological Survey confirmed that, the epicentre of the tremor, was in the north east of the country, taking place some 30 miles north west of Kilju city.
Punggye-ri - North Korea's only nuclear test site - is located in a mountainous region in the North Hamgyong Province.
It is alleged to have been the location of nuclear tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013.
A 2013 explosion registered a 5.1 magnitude tremor. North Korean officials confirmed that too was a successful nuclear detonation.
According to a channel, the China Earthquake Network Centre gave the depth of today's quake as zero kilometres, noting it was registered at almost precisely 9.30am Beijing time.
By Phani Ch
