Nuclear arms from Hiroshima to North Korea

North Korea’s stunning announcement that it had tested a powerful hydrogen bomb would be a dramatic advance in its quest to build a bomb and mount it on a missile that could threaten the US mainland.

North Korea last tested a nuclear bomb in 2013, and this is the fourth time North Korea has detonated a nuclear device in recent years.

“North Korea should abandon nuclear weapons and existing nuclear and ballistic missile programs in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner and engage in credible and authentic talks on denuclearisation”, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in a statement.

The hydrogen bomb is more powerful than the plutonium used in previous tests as it provides more explosive power for a lighter weight.

Although North Korea says it has successfully conducted a miniaturized hydrogen bomb test, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson is not sold on the claims. The test was aimed at protecting the country’s sovereignty in the face of “the ever-growing nuclear threat and blackmail by the US-led hostile forces”, he said. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe added: “We absolutely can not allow this”.

The United Nations Security Council was preparing to meet on Wednesday to discuss the reported nuclear test.

The U.S. North American Aerospace Defense Command says North Korea appears to have put object in space. It was first successfully tested in the 1950s by the USA, in bombs called Mike and Bravo. “But North Korea has always defied expectations”.

The second photo shows a note that Kim Jong Un reportedly wrote, which translates to, “I authorize the hydrogen bomb test. Carry it out on January 6!” If Wednesday’s claim is true, it would be the country’s first involving a hydrogen bomb. “The Chinese government firmly opposes that”, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told a media briefing.

Just how big a threat North Korea’s nuclear program poses is a mystery.

The country added that it would continue to strengthen its nuclear programme in order to protect itself against the hostile policies of the United States.

In total, there are believed to be around 16,300 nuclear weapons spread between these nine countries.

Writing in December, after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un bragged of H-bomb capabilities, nuclear expert Jeffrey Lewis noted that building such a bomb “would seem to be a bit of a stretch for the North Koreans”.