North Korea announced yesterday that it conducted a successful test with a nuclear hydrogen bomb. Shortly before, the South Korean authorities and the US Geological Survey had detected an earthquake measuring 5.1 49 km north of Kilju, the area where North Korean nuclear tests are carried out. According to Seoul, the earthquake was of artificial origin, that is, it was caused by the explosion.
North Korean television claims that Pyongyang has tested a "miniaturized" hydrogen bomb, raising "its nuclear power to the next level" and equipping itself with a weapon to defend itself from the United States and other enemy countries. Regime television claims that the test was a "perfect success".
The hydrogen bomb is much more powerful than traditional uranium nuclear ones and much more difficult to make. The test, if confirmed by foreign experts, will be a strong incentive for new sanctions against North Korea by the UN and will worsen the country's already bad relations with its neighbors.
Pyongyang already has some rudimentary nuclear bombs. In 2012 he said he had sent a satellite into space with a multi-stage rocket. According to experts, this missile could also be used for long-range transport of nuclear warheads. Following North Korea's announcement, a closed-door meeting of the UN Security Council has been convened for today.
"If the reports are true then this is a serious violation of UN resolutions and a provocation that we condemn unreservedly," British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond commented on Twitter. French President François Hollande, on the other hand, defined the Pyongyang nuclear test as "an unacceptable violation of UN resolutions" and called for "a strong reaction from the international community".
