N Korea claims test of H-bomb with ‘unprecedented power’

Bloomberg

North Korea said it successfully tested a hydrogen bomb with “unprecedentedly big power” on Sunday that can be loaded onto an intercontinental ballistic missile, in its first nuclear test under US President Donald Trump’s watch.
The test, ordered by Kim Jong Un, was a “perfect success” and confirmed the precision and technology of the bomb, according to the Korean Central News Agency. The regime has defied Trump’s warnings as it seeks the capability to strike America with an atomic weapon.
“The creditability of the operation of the nuclear warhead is fully guaranteed,” KCNA said. South Korea’s weather agency said it detected a magnitude 5.7 quake near the Punggye-ri nuclear test site in northeast North Korea. Energy from the explosion was about six times stronger than the nuclear test of last September, it said.
Pyongyang’s actions are set to further increase tensions in Northeast Asia, where concerns have grown that a war of words between Trump and Kim could set off a military conflict. It was the sixth nuclear test by Pyongyang since 2006 and the first since the US and South Korea elected new leaders.
Trump had no immediate response to the test, though he sent a tweet thanking relief workers in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. He has repeatedly lashed out at North Korea since taking office, warning last month of “fire and fury” if the regime keeps threatening the US. “All options are on the table,” Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono said on public broadcaster NHK. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said a North Korea nuclear test would be “absolutely unacceptable.”
Still, while South Korean President Moon Jae-in said in a statement he was furious at the test, he also urged North Korea to agree to negotiations. It is too early to say if North Korea has crossed a red line set previously by Moon, the Yonhap News Agency reported, citing an unidentified official from his office.
“It’s big — an order of magnitude bigger than anything else we’ve seen the North Koreans explode,” Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, California, said of the latest test. “A larger weapon can obviously wreak more destruction. But I think there is also a political aspect — the North Koreans want an arsenal as modern as anyone else.” Japan’s national security council chief spoke with US National Security Adviser H. R. McMaster by phone, Kyodo News reported. General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, spoke with South Korean counterpart Chung Eui-yong, Yonhap said, adding they agreed to prepare an unspecified military response.
South Korea will discuss ways to possibly deploy the US’s “most powerful” strategic assets, Chung said at a briefing, without elaborating. The presidential office in Seoul on Friday dismissed the possibility of housing US nuclear weapons in the country.
It’s the second time North Korea has conducted a major provocation while China hosted a big international event. President Xi Jinping is hosting counterparts from Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa in a three-day meeting starting on Sunday in Xiamen. China’s foreign ministry issued a statement condemning the nuclear test. “China urges North Korea to abide by Security Council resolutions, stop taking actions that will worsen the situation and at the same time won’t benefit its own interests, and to return to the path of dialogue to solve the problem,” it said.
Trump’s administration has sought to pressure China into cutting off food and fuel to North Korea, while warning that all options are on the table to stop Kim. China has resisted doing anything that would lead to the collapse of Kim’s regime, in part to avoid destabilizing its economy and seeing the US military gain influence in a unified Korea. Michael Kovrig, senior adviser for Northeast Asia at the International Crisis Group, said he felt a tremor while sitting in a coffee shop on Sunday in the Chinese city of Hunchun, which is on the border with North Korea.