N. Korea says it tested H-bomb

Seoul : North Korea yesterday said it detonated a hydrogen bomb designed for a long-range missile 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. It “marked a very significant occasion in attaining the final goal of completing the state nuclear force”, she added.

The US and South Korean military chiefs spoke by telephone and agreed the test was “a provocation that cannot be overlooked”, Seoul’s defence ministry said in a statement.

The chairmen of the joint chiefs of staff, General Jeong Kyeong-Doo and General Joseph Dunford, “agreed to prepare a South Korea-US military counteraction and to put it into action at the earliest date.”

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.

Whatever the final figure for the test’s yield turned out to be, said Jeffrey Lewis of the armscontrolwonk website, it was “a staged thermonuclear weapon” which represents a significant advance. 

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. 

Pyongyang triggered a new rise in tensions in July, when it carried out two successful tests of an ICBM which brought much of the US mainland within range. Last week it fired a missile over Japan.Analysts believe Pyongyang has been developing its weapons capability to give it a stronger hand in negotiations with the US.

“North Korea will continue with nuclear weapons programme unless the US proposes talks,” Koo Kab-Woo of Seoul’s University of North Korean Studies said.