Hydrogen bomb is ‘self defensive’ step against U.S.
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| North Korean News Test Hydrogen Bomb |
SEOUL—North Korea said it successfully staged its first test of a more powerful form of nuclear weapon, expanding the U.S.’s foreign-policy challenges and highlighting the limits of China’s ability to rein in its volatile ally.
North Korean state television said in a midday broadcast that scientists had successfully detonated a hydrogen bomb at around 10 a.m. local time.
The U.S. Geological Survey reported that it detected a magnitude 5.1 earthquake at that time near North Korea’s nuclear test site in the country’s northeast.
Experts have said it was unclear whether North Korea had developed the ability to build a hydrogen bomb. The magnitude of the latest explosion was the same as a 2013 test of an atomic bomb.
State Department spokesman John Kirby said the U.S. couldn’t confirm North Korea’s claims of a nuclear test but is monitoring the situation.
“We are aware of seismic activity on the Korean Peninsula in the vicinity of a known North Korean nuclear test site and have seen Pyongyang’s claims of a nuclear test,” Mr. Kirby said.
South Korea denounced the test as a violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions that ban nuclear-weapons development by the North.
“This is a grave provocation to our security, threatening the survival and future of our nation and further directly challenging peace and stability in the world,” South Korean President Park Geun-hye said during a meeting of the National Security Council in Seoul. “The government—in close cooperation with the international community—should have North Korea pay a price without fail for the latest nuclear test.” She urged “powerful sanctions” by the U.N. Security Council and international community, as well as “resolute measures” by the U.S. and other allies.
Japan, which is serving on the U.N. Security Council as a nonpermanent member, will work closely with countries including the U.S., South Korea, China and Russia, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said, adding that his government won’t tolerate this “grave threat” to Japan’s security. France, Russia and the U.K. also said if the device was detonated as described, it would be a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions. The European Union’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini called on North Korea to “cease this illegal and dangerous behavior.”
At the U.N., U.S. and Japanese officials said early Wednesday that they have asked for an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council to discuss North Korea. Following Pyongyang’s nuclear test in 2013, the U.N. Security Council adopted sanctions designed to tighten financial restrictions on North Korea in a resolution that won the support of North Korean ally China.
At a regular press briefing on Wednesday, foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said China knew nothing about the test before it was carried out. Asked whether sanctions would come from Beijing, Ms. Hua said China would “honor its international obligations to realize the denuclearization of the peninsula.”
For China, the test will strain relations with North Korea and increase international pressure to participate more in efforts to control it, said Korea expert Cai Jian, of Fudan University in Shanghai.
“China would have to not only worry about the stability in its border areas but also about if the U.S. and Japan would use chances like this as excuses to deploy more military facilities in the area,” he added.
In the past, U.S. officials have questioned North Korea’s claims to technological breakthroughs, though last year the Pentagon did say it had determined that Pyongyang was close to or already capable of miniaturizing nuclear warheads so they can be mounted on missiles and launched across the globe.
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