N. Korea says it conducts successful powerful H-bomb test

North Korea has announced it has successfully conducted a hydrogen nuclear test, a marked step towards the nation’s ambitions to be a “nuclear weapons state both in name and reality”. North Korea under leader Kim Jong Un has pledged to bolster its nuclear arsenal unless Washington scraps what Pyongyang calls a hostile policy.

“They could have tested some middle stage kind (of device) between an A-bomb and H-bomb, but unless they come up with any clear evidence, it is hard to trust their claim”. A hydrogen bomb is far more powerful than an atomic bomb and relies on the heat generated from nuclear fission to trigger a fusion reaction.

“North Korea’s ongoing development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, and its proliferation of sensitive technologies, threaten the peace and security of Australia’s friends and partners in our region and beyond”, she said.

White House National Security Council spokesman Ned Price released a statement calling any potential test a violation of worldwide law.

In a statement after conducting its fourth nuclear test, North Korea’s state news agency said it will not give up its nuclear programme as long as the United States maintained what it called “its stance of aggression”.

Since then it claims to have tested three nuclear devices, the most recent in 2013.

However, the agency said Pyongyang will act as a responsible nuclear state and vowed not to use its nuclear weapons unless its sovereignty was infringed.

One Western diplomat said that if the latest North Korean nuclear test was confirmed, council members would seek to expand existing United Nations sanctions against Pyongyang.

The U.S. Defense Department is “looking into reports of a possible seismic event near North Korea’s nuclear facilities”, a U.S. official said.

The test is a surprise, both in its purported type and its timing.

After the North’s third atomic test, in February, 2013, Pyongyang launched a campaign of bellicose rhetoric that included threats to launch a nuclear attack on the United States and Seoul.

Cha says that North Korea’s activities may already meet the definition of a runaway nuclear weapons program, “with the potential to be fueled by a large supply of raw uranium buried in North Korea’s mines”.

Chinese border residents were evacuated from buildings after feeling tremors from North Korea’s nuclear test on Wednesday, January 6, state media reported.