New provocation from North Korea. Pyongyang today carried out its sixth atomic test, the first since Donald Trump is president of the United States. It is the most powerful ever, to the point that the explosion caused a magnitude 6.3 earthquake. Immediately afterwards another tremor was recorded, this time of 4.6.
The regime had announced that it had developed a thermonuclear hydrogen device. The underground explosion, which took place at a depth of 10 km, is 4.6 kilotons, five times more powerful than both the previous test and the Nagasaki bomb. It is probable that a second bomb also exploded, causing the earthquake. The XNUMX quake, however, could also have been caused by a collapse. Hypothesis confirmed by Usgs, the US earthquake observatory. Which gives rise to fears that there is a risk of radiation leakage.
Meanwhile, South Korea replies by convening an emergency security meeting and activating its "response team". Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, on the other hand, has sent Japanese jets to try to detect the radioactive emissions. Beijing has also sent its military aircraft to the North Korean border: it is the first time that Beijing, a historic ally of North Korea, has responded to Kim. The earthquake shook even Northeast China.
Moreover, the North Koreans swear that the new bomb could be worth "ten to hundreds of kilotons" of power and is ready to be "miniaturized" on an intercontinental missile: like the two Hwasong-14 tested in July, capable of reaching the United States .
"They want us to understand that they could launch a thermonuclear attack if they are attacked now," Adam Mount, an expert at the Center for American Progress, told AP. Deep down, Pyongyang fears that Trump might move first with a pre-emptive strike.
