The recent statements made by North Korean foreign minister, Ri Yong-ho, about detonating a hydrogen bomb in the Pacific Ocean, is said to have raised the threat level between the US and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) -- the official name of the North Korean government -- to a whole new level. The foreign minister made the threat in a statement outside of a New York hotel where diplomats were staying on Friday. They were in town last week with other foreign diplomats for the UN General Assembly.

The DPRK's supreme leader issued his own statement on the same day, saying that Trump's recent threats at the UN to "destroy North Korea" was a "ferocious declaration to war."

Nuclear warhead delivered at the end of a missile

Analysts are questioning Kim Jong-un's ability to deliver -- much less detonate -- a nuclear device in the Pacific. This is because American warships -- and those of its allies -- are monitoring the seas. But this still leaves the option for the regime to deliver a nuclear warhead to the Pacific Ocean on a ballistic missile, which many experts have compared to China's nuclear explosion 37-years-ago 1,300 miles outside of Beijing.

Experts on North Korea question where North Korea even has the technological capability to deliver a nuclear warhead on the end of a ballistic missile that could sustain re-entry into the atmosphere.

This is despite the fact that Kim Jong-un's regime has already revealed their technological capability to the world in recent months, of what many of those experts had only suspected for years, such as the fact that they have Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) capabilities.

A nuclear missile that fails is still dangerous

This would immediately force many assume that if the warhead did not survive re-entry, it would not be effective. But, a New York Times article titled: "North Korea Hits New Level of Brinkmanship in Reacting to Trump" referred to Shin Beom-chul who is a security expert at Seoul's Korea National Diplomatic Academy, who said that Pyongyang -- North Korea's capital -- did not have the technology to prevent a warhead from burning up during re-entry.

The U.S. Defense Department said in recent months that they had confirmed that the DPRK did have nuclear warheads.

This would mean that there would still, however, be a threat as a nuclear warhead burning up on re-entry would still mean a detonation over Japan, even if it doesn't reach its intended target. Mr. Shin said that the result would be a nuclear war. He also suggested that North Korea is unlikely to risk radioactive fallout on their own country, preventing them from actually following through with their own threat.

One article by NBC news titled: "What Would Happen if North Korea Tested an H-Bomb Over the Pacific?" explains how the impact of a nuclear explosion would make the area radioactive, but it refers to the dangers of impact rather than dangers posed when it detonates in the atmosphere. While there is some doubt that North Korea has the capability, some agree that Kim Jong-un means what he says.
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