North Korea said it conducted a “successful” hydrogen bomb test Wednesday, but Pyongyang’s claim was met with widespread skepticism even as world powers denounced its latest nuclear test.
“We’ve now become a nuclear state that also holds a hydrogen bomb,” an announcer declared on state television. The statement called the test a matter of self-defense to protect the country’s sovereignty and made several critical references to the United States.
The U.S. Geological Survey reported a 5.1 magnitude earthquake near Punggye-ri, where North Korea conducted three previous nuclear tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s claim last month that his country possesses a hydrogen bomb was widely discounted as unsubstantiated and Wednesday’s test drew the same reaction, given the size of the blast. Rand Corporation nuclear analyst Bruce Bennett told VOA he is doubtful it was a hydrogen bomb test.
The United Nations Security Council, which has imposed a series of sanctions against North Korea for its previous tests, immediately set an emergency meeting for Wednesday to consider how to react to Pyongyang’s latest claim.
“This act is profoundly destabilizing for regional security and seriously undermines international non-proliferation efforts,” U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said of the North Korean test. “I condemn it unequivocally.”
Yukiya Amano, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, called the test a “clear violation” of U.N. Security Council resolutions and said it is “deeply regrettable.”
Source-VOA
