By Ankit Panda
On Wednesday, North Korea conducted its first nuclear test since 2013, claiming to have tested its first thermonuclear device.
At approximately 10:00 a.m. local time on Wednesday, January 6, North Korea detonated a nuclear device of an unknown yield. In an announcement on state television, the North Korean regime claimed that the device was a hydrogen bomb and that the test was successful. The test was conducted at 41.326°N 129.010°E, near the location of North Korea’s last test in February 2013, which was conducted at 41.302°N 129.066°E. Both test sites are a short distance from the North Korean nuclear facility at Punggye-ri. According to the European Mediterranean Seismological Center, the epicenter of the detonation was approximately 2 kilometers underground.
In announcing the test, the North Korean government emphasized that the device was to protect against powers hostile to the country. The timing of the test is somewhat surprising as Kim Jong-un’s New Year’s address was less focused on the country’s military and the nuclear program than it was on economic issues. However, January 8 marks Kim’s birthday, suggesting that the nuclear test was something of a preemptive birthday celebration for the North Korean leader who took over after his father Kim Jong-il died in 2011. This is the second test on Kim Jong-un’s watch.
Independent verification of North Korea’s claims will take time, but initial impressions suggest that the device detonated was not a thermonuclear device, otherwise known as an H-bomb or hydrogen bomb. The measured seismic yield of the detonation was reported as 4.9 by China’s Earthquake Networks Center and as 5.1 by the U.S. Geological Survey. Both estimates suggest a yield similar to the device detonated in February 2013, which was the last nuclear test carried out by North Korea and involved a non-thermonuclear device.
Read the full story at The Diplomat