North Korea tested successfully a hydrogen bomb on Sunday, Pyongyang officials said. The US Geological Service picked up the bomb explosion at 12 noon as an earthquake that measured 6.3 on the Richter scale.
It is at least five times stronger than past detonations by Pyongyang. The hydrogen bomb that North Korea exploded was about eight times stronger than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in Japan during World War II, Gizmodo reported.
US & South Korea response
Following the hydrogen bomb explosion, the US and South Korea agreed to jointly pursue some kind of military response.
A few hours after North Korea tested a hydrogen bomb meant to fit on an intercontinental ballistic missile, US President Donald Trump tweeted that the communist country was a rogue nation and an embarrassment to China, The New York Post reported.
North Korea has conducted a major Nuclear Test. Their words and actions continue to be very hostile and dangerous to the United States.....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 3, 2017
He added that South Korea’s talk of appeasement with North Korea will not work. He said South Korea and China have roles in tampering down the nuclear ambitions of Pyongyang. However, over the recent weeks, China had criticized the west for saying it is responsible for North Korea and it has done nothing to cool tensions in the Korean peninsula.
Beijing added that it was upset by the military drills jointly held by South Korea and the US and it doubts economic sanctions would work, Reuters reported.
Tough new action
Ruan Zongze, a former Chinese envoy and affiliated now with the China Institute of International Studies, said that the seriousness of the nuclear test on Sunday could result in China likely supporting tough new action against North Korea.
The economic sanctions would include possibly cutting off Pyongyang’s oil supplies. He added that Washington has a role also in reining in North Korea’s nuclear ambition and should not blindly place pressure on China to place pressure on Pyongyang.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un reportedly oversaw the hydrogen bomb test. State TV described the bomb as “a multi-functional thermonuclear nuke with great destructive power which can be detonated even at high altitudes for super-powerful EMP attack according to strategic goals.”
It is the sixth nuclear test by Pyongyang, the fifth test was in September 2016.
It is the first test with Trump as president. Although Trump had warned of fire and fury with North Korea’s continued testing of bombs, he had privately admitted that Washington has no good military options on the Korean Peninsula where 10 million people in South Korea could die in the first 30 minutes from conventional weapons.
