North Korea has confirmed its test of a hydrogen bomb meant for an intercontinental ballistic missile was a ‘perfect success’.
The country’s sixth nuclear test sparked a powerful 6.3 magnitude earthquake which was detected in the northeast of the country where North Korea’s test site Punggye-ri is located.
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 statement read: “Scientists in the nuclear field of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea successfully carried out a test of H-bomb for intercontinental ballistic missile in the northern nuclear test fround of the DPRK at 12:00 on September 2, true to the Workers’ Party of Korea’s plan for building a strategic nuclear force.”
North Korea television also released photographs appearing to show Kim signing the order to carry out the country’s sixth nuclear test.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff in Seoul said in a statement its military has strengthened monitoring and readiness and is mulling a variety of possible responses that could be pushed together with its ally, the United States.
It says it detected a seismic wave from 12.34 pm to 12.36 pm on Sunday around Punggye-ri.
The test is a direct challenge to US President Donald Trump, who hours earlier had talked by phone with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe about the ‘escalating’ nuclear crisis in the region.
Image: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un provides guidance on a nuclear weapons program in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency in Pyongyang. Photograph: KCNA/Reuters
