The US Isn’t Buying North Korea’s Claim Of An H-Bomb Test

Since North Korea claimed it successfully tested a hydrogen bomb on Wednesday, world leaders have swiftly moved to issue condemnation, with the Security Council having held an emergency meeting to discuss strengthening measures against the country.

The statement said “in line with this commitment and the gravity of this violation, the members of the Security Council will begin to work immediately on such measures in a new Security Council resolution”.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday denounced North Korea’s nuclear test and called on Pyongyang to halt its nuclear program.

Experts say that ballistic missiles and rockets in satellite launches share similar bodies, engines and other technology.

There has always been skepticism by Washington and nuclear experts on past North Korean claims about H-bombs, which are much more powerful, and much more hard to make, than atomic bombs.

The announcement came soon after a magnitude-5.1 natural disaster was reported by the U.S. Geological Service 30.4 miles from the city of Kilju, North Korea, where the country’s Punggye-ri nuclear test site is located.

The Security Council based its decision on the four previous council resolutions which pledged tougher sanctions against the North in the event of an additional atomic test.

The European Union’s policy chief called on North Korea to re-engage in credible a meaningful dialogue with the worldwide community, following the North’s claims.

It is expected that the resolution will oversee the expansion of an existing sanctions regime against North Korea.

North Korea is thought to have a handful of rudimentary nuclear bombs and has spent decades trying to ideal a multistage, long-range missile to eventually carry smaller versions of those bombs. North Korea is yet another Hillary Clinton foreign policy failure. China, North Korea’s most important diplomatic and economic partner, took a more nuanced stance than others, saying it “firmly opposes” the test and would summon Pyongyang’s ambassador for “solemn representations”.

Pyongyang said Wednesday’s explosion was its first “successful hydrogen bomb test”.

Japan’s meteorological agency officer Yohei Hasegawa displays a chart showing seismic activity, (at L top is today’s observation result, observed in China) after a North Korean nuclear test, at the agency in Tokyo on January 6, 2016.

“It is also notable that our collective statements are echoed by countries like China and Russian Federation, with whom we don’t always agree”, he said.

One senior Western diplomat said possible additions to the United Nations sanctions list could be foreign representatives of the North Korean organization that administers its nuclear developments and people linked to one of its key procurement companies. But it will generate more pressure from the United Nations and more sanctions imposed by the global community.

Earlier in the day an natural disaster occurred in South Korea, prompting Seoul’s suspicions that Pyongyang had performed a nuclear explosion. “We still don’t know if they do have that capability”.

“Let the world look up to the strong, self-reliant nuclear-armed state”, Kim wrote in what North Korean state TV displayed as a handwritten note.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said of the bomb test: “We absolutely can not allow this, and condemn it strongly”.