Pyongyang announced at the time that it had tested a hydrogen bomb with an estimated yield of 250 kilotons, specifically a warhead that could be placed on its Hwasong-14 intercontinental ballistic missile.
That latest and most powerful nuclear test by North Korea marked a new chapter in the confrontation and muscle-flexing between Pyongyang and the West.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had previously announced in 2015 that his country possessed a hydrogen bomb, and in the following year, 2016, it conducted a nuclear test that confirmed that it was a hydrogen bomb, but North Korea’s opponents doubted the veracity of this announcement because they estimated that the power of the explosion was inappropriate.
The situation changed completely with the nuclear test conducted in September 2017. The power of the explosion turned out to be dozens of times greater than that of North Korea’s previous nuclear tests.
Pyongyang has conducted a total of six underground nuclear tests, the first in 2006, with an estimated yield of 2 kilotons. North Korea’s second nuclear test was carried out in 2009, with an estimated yield of 5.4 kilotons. The third nuclear test was carried out in 2013, with an estimated maximum yield of 16 kilotons.
2016 was different, as North Korea conducted two nuclear tests. In order, they were the fourth and fifth. The yields of these two nuclear tests were estimated at 16.5 kilotons and 25 kilotons respectively.
The sixth nuclear test, which took place on September 3, 2017, at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site located in mountainous terrain in the Kilju area of North Hamgyong Province, was the pinnacle of North Korean nuclear testing, and its yield was estimated in later amendments to be between 70 and 280 kilotons.
The strength of the earthquake that was recorded at the time of the test in North Korea by observatories of neighboring countries as well as the United States, which exceeded six degrees, eliminated all doubt with certainty that Pyongyang was able to manufacture a warhead for a hydrogen nuclear bomb, a model of which its leader had displayed after the test.
The US Secretary of Defense at the time, Jim Mattis, stated that the threats sent by Pyongyang to the United States and its allies would not be ignored and that they would “be met with a massive military response,” which would be “effective and overwhelming.”
North Korea, in turn, announced in a statement at the time that it had detonated a hydrogen bomb, and vowed to use it against any aggressor threatening the country’s security. It seemed as if leader Kim Jong-un, after what happened in Iraq and Libya, acted differently.
At the end of the journey, his country conducted a hydrogen bomb test, and a year later, on September 3, 2017, he supervised the detonation of a hydrogen bomb warhead, then published a photo he had taken of himself inspecting a model of this thermal warhead and closed the door behind him.
Source: RT
#detonated #hydrogen #bomb #closed #door
2024-09-04 00:53:23
