North Korea claims successful hydrogen bomb test in self-defence against US
An announcement on North Korean television said the country had successfully tested a “miniaturised hydrogen bomb” underground on Wednesday morning, describing it as an “act of self-defence” against the US. North Korean claims about the size and type of bomb have not been independently verified.If the claims are true, it would be the first time the North has successfully tested a hydrogen bomb and could also enable the secretive state to launch long-range nuclear missiles.“If it’s true, it means they’ve made something smaller scale, capable of being put onto a missile, said John Carlson, the former head of the Australian Safeguards and Non-Proliferation Office. “I think we can assume the previous tests they’ve carried out have been devices too large to fit onto a missile.”South Korea’s spy agency believes the seismic wave reported was more likely caused by an atomic bomb, Lee Cheol Woo, a South Korean politician, said.Yang Uk, a senior research fellow at the Korea Defence and Security Forum, said: “Given the scale it is hard to believe this is a real hydrogen bomb. They could have tested some middle stage kind (of device) between an A-bomb and H-bomb, but unless they come up with any clear evidence, it is difficult to trust their claim.”