Experts Are Skeptical Of North Korea’s Claim That It Has An H-Bomb

If the hydrogen bomb claim is true, it would indicate advances in the North’s pursuit of nuclear weapons.

It is the first time the regime, which has already conducted three atomic tests, has claimed to have built a hydrogen bomb.

“We’ve managed to become a major nuclear power capable of defending our homeland’s national independence and dignity by powerful nuclear and hydrogen attacks”, the North Korean leader said during an inspection at a military base, the state news agency reported.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits the Phyongchon Revolutionary Site, in this undated photo released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang December 10, 2015. According to the Washington Post, the International Atomic Energy Agency believes North Korea is strengthening its nuclear program, but it hasn’t been allowed inside the country inspect anything. Lee Chun-geun, a research fellow at the Science and Technology Policy Institute in Seoul, said the North “seems to be developing it”. A hydrogen, or thermonuclear device, uses fusion in a chain reaction that results in a far more powerful explosion.

This story was first published on CNN.com, “North Korea claims it has hydrogen bomb”.

At the time, many observers ridiculed the claim by North Korea, which often uses bombastic assertions to increase leverage over its enemies in negotiations or to burnish its image at home.

The North’s first two nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009 were of plutonium devices, while the third was believed – though not confirmed – to have used uranium as its fissile material.

“The situation on the Korean peninsula is very delicate, complex and fragile”.

China, Russia, Venezuela and Angola failed on Thursday to stop the United Nations Security Council from holding its second meeting on human rights in North Korea, which has been accused by a U.N. inquiry of abuses comparable to Nazi-era atrocities.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Huan Chunying added they hope concerned effort will be made to bring peace and stability. Analysts have said cash-strapped North Korea might seek the South’s commitment to restart joint tours to its scenic Diamond Mountain resort, which were suspended by Seoul in 2008 following the shooting death of a South Korean tourist there by a North Korean soldier.

China is a close ally of desperately poor and reclusive North Korea.

South Korean Deputy Unification Minister Hwang Boo-gi is expected to meet Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea Deputy Executive Secretary Jeon Jeong Soo in the Kaesong border town. “So far, we have not noticed any unusual movements or activities”.

South Korea has allegedly called for the DPRK to agree upon regular reunions of the separated Korean families through the inter-governmental talks. ‘Their goal could be to pressure the global community.