White House says it can’t confirm N. Korea nuclear test

Hydrogen bombs involve both fission and fusion reactions to generate even more power than single-stage atomic weapons.

‘If there’s no invasion on our sovereignty we will not use nuclear weapon.

The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) on Wednesday condemns the latest nuclear bomb test by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), calling the test “provocative and risky behaviour”.

South Korean President Park Geun-Hye called the test a “grave provocation” at an emergency meeting of the Country’s National Security Council (NSC) convened immediately after the news broke.

The U.S. Geological Survey recorded the magnitude of the tremor at 5.1.

“Thermonuclear weapons are tricky; making one work requires a bit of test experience”, he wrote on the North Korea-focused 38 North website.

Fusion is the main principle behind the hydrogen bomb, which can be hundreds of times more powerful than atomic weapons that use fission.

The outside world including South Korea, China, and the USA has been trying to find ways to end the nuclear defiance from North Korea, and the new nuclear test has come up as a challenge for these countries.

– Scepticism over H-bomb – ============================ “This weapon was probably the size of the US Hiroshima bomb but this was not a hydrogen bomb”. Bruce Bennett, a senior defence analyst with the Rand Corporation, was equally unconvinced.

“That will have a huge impact on North Korea’s economy”, Lu said.

“China firmly opposes this nuclear bomb test by North Korea”, ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters at a daily briefing.

Whatever the type of the test, North Korea’s fourth nuclear explosion will likely push Pyongyang’s scientists and engineers closer to their goal of building a bomb small enough to place on a missile that can reach the USA mainland.

South Korea’s meteorological agency said it had not detected any radiation after North Korea said it had tested a bomb.

Pyongyang is under USA and United Nations sanctions for its nuclear program. North Korea claimed in 2013 that it had scrapped the 1953 armistice that ended fighting in the Korean War. USA stocks are opening modestly higher as trading stabilizes a day after a plunge in China unsettled investors around… “My guess is probably not”.

Yet maintaining security and achieving lasting peace in the region require each and every party to refrain from unilateral moves that might add fuel to the fire and escalate tensions out of control.

Recent U.N. resolutions have included arms and non-proliferation embargoes to luxury good embargo, a freeze on overseas financial assets and a travel ban.

After the third nuclear test, the council warned it would “take further significant measures” in the event of another missile launch or nuclear test by North Korea.

South Korea has also said a fourth test would be a watershed moment that would warrant a response. “We have consistently made clear that we will not accept it as a nuclear state”.

In the ensuing years, the U.S has been joined by the USSR/Russia, United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan and North Korea.

Pyongyang has carried out three previous nuclear tests – in 2006, 2009 and 2013 – which led to a series of sanctions from the United Nations.