North Korea said on Sunday it has successfully tested a hydrogen bomb designed to be mounted on its newly developed intercontinental ballistic missile, producing a greater yield than any of its previous nuclear tests.
The hydrogen bomb test ordered by leader Kim Jong Un was a “perfect success” and was a “meaningful” step in completing the country’s nuclear weapons programme, state television said.
The announcement came hours after a large earthquake that appeared to be man-made was detected near the North‘s known nuclear test site, indicating that the reclusive country had conducted its sixth nuclear test.
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Ahead of its sixth test, North Korea said early on Sunday it has developed a more advanced nuclear weapon that has “great destructive power” and leader Kim Jong Un inspected a hydrogen bomb that would be loaded on a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
The report by North Korea‘s official KCNA news agency came amid heightened regional tension following Pyongyang‘s test launch of two ICBM-class missiles in July that potentially had a range of about 10,000 km (6,200 miles) that could hit many parts of the mainland United States.
Under its leader Kim Jong Un, North Korea has pursued work on building nuclear weapons and long-range ballistic missiles that can deliver them at an unprecedented pace, defying U.N. sanctions and international pressure.
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The hydrogen bomb’s power is adjustable to hundreds of kilotons and can be detonated at high altitudes, with its indigenously produced components allowing the country to build as many nuclear weapons as it wants, KCNA news agency said.
Kim visited the country’s Nuclear Weapons Institute and “watched an H-bomb to be loaded into new ICBM,” KCNA said. “All components of the H-bomb were homemade and all the processes … were put on the Juche basis, thus enabling the country to produce powerful nuclear weapons as many as it wants, he said.”
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Juche is North Korea‘s homegrown ruling go-it-alone ideology that is a mix of Marxism and extreme nationalism preached by state founder Kim Il Sung, the current leader’s grandfather.
Kim Jong Un “set forth tasks to be fulfilled in the research into nukes,” KCNA said, but it made no mention of plans for a sixth nuclear test.
North Korea last year conducted its fourth and fifth nuclear tests, saying the fourth in January 2016 was a successful hydrogen bomb test, although outside experts questioned whether it was a full-fledged hydrogen bomb.
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The fifth nuclear test in September 2016 was measured to be possibly North Korea‘s biggest detonation ever, but the earthquake it caused was still not believed to be big enough to demonstrate a thermonuclear test.
U.S. officials have told Reuters that North Korea has had parts in place for a nuclear detonation going back several months.