After promising it was on the way, North Korea have successfully detonated their first hydrogen bomb…supposedly.
If true, this would be the fourth time North Korea have tested nuclear arms since 2006 and would represent a huge step-up in their capabilities – H-bombs are more powerful than atomic weapons and much more complex to assemble.
However, many nuclear experts are far from convinced the underground test was large enough to have been the result of an H-bomb.
“The bang they should have gotten would have been 10 times greater than what they’re claiming,” Bruce Bennett, an analyst with the Rand Corporation, is quoted as saying by the BBC.
“Kim Jong-un is either lying, saying they did a hydrogen test when they didn’t, they just used a little bit more efficient fission weapon – or the hydrogen part of the test really didn’t work very well or the fission part didn’t work very well.”
That’s a relief.
