January 2016 North Korean nuclear test
January 2016 North Korea nuclear test | |
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Information | |
Country | North Korea |
Test site | 41°18′29″N 129°02′56″E / 41.308°N 129.049°ECoordinates: 41°18′29″N 129°02′56″E / 41.308°N 129.049°E,[1] Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site, Kilju County |
Period | 10:00:01, 6 January 2016 UTC+08:30 (01:30:01 UTC)[1] |
Number of tests | 1 |
Test type | Underground |
Device type | Hydrogen according to the DPRK, fission according to the South Korean National Intelligence Service |
Max. yield |
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Navigation | |
Previous test | 2013 test |
Next test | September 2016 test |
North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear detonation on 6 January 2016 at 10:00:01 UTC+08:30. At the Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site, approximately 50 kilometres (30 miles) northwest of Kilju City in Kilju County, an underground nuclear test was carried out. The United States Geological Survey reported a 5.1 magnitude earthquake from the location; the China Earthquake Networks Center reported the magnitude as 4.9.
North Korean media made announcements that the regime had successfully tested a hydrogen bomb. However third-party experts—as well as officials and agencies in South Korea—doubted North Korea's claims and contend that the device was more likely to have been a fission bomb such as a boosted fission weapon. Such weapons use hydrogen fusion to produce smaller, lighter warheads suitable for arming a delivery device such as a missile, rather than to attain the destructive power of a true hydrogen bomb.
Background
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North Korea (officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, or DPRK) had previously conducted three underground nuclear tests in 2006, 2009, and 2013, drawing sanctions from the United Nations Security Council.[5][6][7]
The presidents of the United States and South Korea urged North Korea to rejoin the six-party talks in October 2015. The presidents also warned North Korea against a fourth nuclear test.[8]
In December 2015 North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong-un suggested that the country had the capacity to launch a hydrogen bomb, a device of considerably more power than conventional atomic bombs used in previous tests.[9] The remark was met with skepticism from the White House and South Korean officials.[10] Around this time, the country approached the United States about possible peace talks to end the Korean War.[11]
In a New Year's Day speech, Kim Jong-un warned that provocation from "invasive outsiders" would be met with a "holy war of justice".[12]
North Korean claims
![](../I/m/Kim_Jong-un's_initial_order_on_H-bomb_test.jpg)
The North Korean government described the test as a "complete success"[6] and characterized it as self-defense against the United States.[5] North Korean media claimed that the bomb existed the month before the test was carried out.[13]
Official state media from the DPRK announced the test. The Korean Central Television (KCTV) said that "the U.S. has gathered forces hostile to [the] DPRK and raised a slanderous human rights issue to hinder [the] DPRK's improvement. It is [therefore] just to have [an] H-bomb as self-defense against the U.S. having numerous and humongous nuclear weapons. The DPRK's fate must not be protected by any forces but [the] DPRK itself".[14] The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) further stated that "The H-bomb test conducted by the DPRK was a measure for self-defence to thoroughly protect the sovereignty of the country and vital rights of the nation from the daily-growing nuclear threat and blackmail by the hostile forces and reliably guarantee peace on the Korean Peninsula and security of the region … The Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq and the Gaddafi regime in Libya could not escape the fate of destruction after being deprived of their foundations for nuclear development and giving up nuclear programs of their own accord, yielding to the pressure of the US and the West keen on their regime changes",[15] adding that a "bitter lesson" should be drawn from those events. The regime also defended the nuclear weapons programmes of the DPRK, saying that the programme will be abandoned only if "the US rolls back its outrageous hostile policy toward the DPRK and imperialist aggression forces give up their infringement upon sovereignty by use of force in the international arena."[15]
Ri Chun-hee, the television news anchor who announced the deaths of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il, emerged from retirement to announce the H-bomb test to both the domestic and international audience.[16]
Skepticism of the hydrogen bomb claim
The earthquake caused by the 2016 nuclear test was 5.1 magnitude,[5][17] similar to the 5.1-magnitude earthquake that accompanied North Korea's previous 2013 nuclear test (which was estimated by South Korea to have a yield of 6–9 kilotons of TNT and Russian estimates of more than 7 kilotons of TNT).[18][19]
Won-Young Kim at the Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory explained it "was more powerful than North Korea's previous nuclear test" and added that it is difficult to quantify "the exact size of North Korea's nuclear detonations because the depth of the explosive device, properties of the rock surrounding the explosion and other factors influence the seismic measurements produced" because North Korea does not publicize the depth of its tests, although the material at the Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site is thought to be hard granite.[20]
The tremors were felt in Changbai, Hunchun and Yanji in Jilin province in China.[21][22] China Central Television released photos of students being evacuated in the area and stated that the ground at a local high school showed cracks.[21] According to China's Foreign Ministry, Beijing had no advance knowledge of the test.[21]
Although North Korea declared that the 2016 test was a "successful" demonstration of a hydrogen bomb, international experts and members of the South Korean government expressed skepticism because the explosion was too small; rather, the test may have involved only a boosted fission weapon.[8][23]
Andre Gsponer of the Independent Scientific Research Institute at the University of Oxford said this technology has "a number of significant technical and military advantages, which explain why it is used in essentially all militarized nuclear weapons, including in India, Pakistan, and North Korea". Quick estimates of the impact of such a weapon "detonated 1,000 meters over downtown Seoul would produce 78,000 fatalities and somewhere around 270,000 estimated injuries", according to Ryan Faith of ViceNews.[24] Analyst Zack Beauchamp of Vox points out that yield and technology in this test "won't fundamentally change the status quo in the Korean peninsula and it would be more a change in degree than in kind in military terms".[25]
Bruce W. Bennett, senior defense analyst of the RAND Corporation research organization, is also skeptical, telling BBC News that "the bang they should have gotten would have been 10 times greater… So 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."[26] After considering the seismic data which suggests a 6–9 kiloton yield, other U.S. analysts also do not believe that a hydrogen bomb was detonated. "What we're speculating is they tried to do a boosted nuclear device, which is an atomic bomb that has a little bit of hydrogen, an isotope in it called tritium," said Joseph Cirincione, president of the global security firm Ploughshares Fund.[27]
On the other hand, John Carlson, a member of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission and former head of the Australian Safeguards and Non-Proliferation Office declared previous North Korean tests were purely a primary stage, that is, a nuclear explosion, "and fairly low yield at that". However, in the case of this test, he added that "if it's true, it means they have made something (of a) smaller scale, capable of being put on to a missile" and that North Korea would be aiming to develop a weapon "small enough and light enough to put on to a missile, and the usual parameters are something less than one meter in diameter, and less than a tonne in weight".
Admiral Bill Gortney, head of US Northern Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command, said in October 2015 he believed North Korea had rockets with enough range to hit the continental US and added that "the secretive state had already developed 'miniaturised' nuclear bombs that could be fitted to these rockets".[28][29] David Albright, former United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency nuclear inspector, on the contrary, thinks Pyongyang can miniaturize a warhead for shorter-range missiles, but not yet for intercontinental ballistic missiles, or ICBMs.[30]
There is a clear distinction between first- and second-generation nuclear weapons, i.e. atomic and hydrogen bombs. However, virtually all second generation bombs use a few grams of deuterium-tritium gas to ensure the reliability and safety of the nuclear fission-explosives. They can then be used on their own as boosted fission bombs, or as primaries of two-stage thermonuclear (hydrogen) weapons. Weapons which in contemporary arsenals do not use tritium boosting have a generally lower kiloton yield and are mostly weapons used for specific purposes such as atomic demolition munitions. Tritium boosting is relatively easy to implement and has advantages in yield, weight, size, safety (zero or negligible yield when the tritium is not in the weapon), resistance to spontaneous fission caused by other warheads and high transparency to X-rays.[31]
Jeffrey Lewis, expert at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies, said that a boosted fission weapon is "the most likely scenario in my view, with a failed thermonuclear test a close second".[24]
International reactions
The test was once again, met with harsh International condemnation and the United Nations has subsequently passed the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2270.
See also
- List of nuclear weapons tests of North Korea
- List of states with nuclear weapons
- Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons
References
- 1 2 "M5.1 Nuclear Explosion – 22 km ENE of Sungjibaegam, North Korea". United States Geological Survey. 6 January 2016. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
- ↑ Nordkorea: BGR registriert vermutlichen Kernwaffentest - BGR (In German), 9 Sep 2016
- ↑ Nordkorea: BGR registriert vermutlichen Kernwaffentest - BGR, 6 Jan 2016
- ↑ North Korea’s 9 September 2016 Nuclear Test Location and Yield: Seismic Results from USTC
- 1 2 3 "North Korean carries out fourth nuclear test". The Guardian. 6 January 2016. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
- 1 2 Sanger, David E.; Sang-hun, Choe (5 January 2016). "North Korea Announces That It Has Detonated First Hydrogen Bomb". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
- ↑ "Chronology of major events leading to N. Korea's H-bomb test". Yonhap. 6 January 2016. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
- 1 2 Sang-hung, Choe. "North Korea Claims It Tested Hydrogen Bomb but Is Doubted". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
- ↑ "North Korea has a hydrogen bomb, says Kim Jong-un". The Guardian. Reuters. 10 December 2015. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
- ↑ Sang-hun, Choe (10 December 2015). "Kim Jong-Un's Claim of North Korea Hydrogen Bomb Draws Skepticism". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
- ↑ Cassella, Megan; Chiacu, Doina (21 February 2016). "U.S. rejected North Korea peace talks offer before last nuclear test: State Department". Reuters. Retrieved 22 February 2016.
- ↑ "North Korea's Kim Says He Is Ready For War". Sky News. 1 January 2016. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
- ↑ "DPRK Proves Successful in H-bomb Test". Pyongyang: Korean Central News Agency. 6 January 2016.
- ↑ "North Korea says it tested hydrogen bomb" NK News. 6 January 2016. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
- 1 2 "'H-Bomb of justice': Pyongyang brings up Iraq & Libya doom as nuclear deterrence justification". RT. 9 January 2016. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
- ↑ "Famed N. Korean newscaster comes out of retirement to anchor story on purported H-bomb detonation". Women in the World in Association with The New York Times – WITW. 6 January 2016. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
- ↑ "朝鲜M4.9地震(疑爆)". China Earthquake Data Center (in Chinese). Retrieved 6 January 2016.
- ↑ Choi, He-suk (14 February 2013). "Estimates differ on size of N.K. blast". The Korea Herald. Retrieved 17 February 2013.
- ↑ "M5.1 – 24 km ENE of Sungjibaegam, North Korea". USGS. 12 February 2013. Retrieved 12 February 2013.
- ↑ "Nuclear Confusion: The Data Suggest North Korea's "H–Bomb" Isn't". Scientific American. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
- 1 2 3 "North Korea Tests China With Nuclear Claim". The Wall Street Journal. 6 January 2016. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
- ↑ "The North Korean bomb test that caused tremors in China". The Daily Mail. 6 January 2016. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
- ↑ McCurry, Justin; Safi, Michael (6 January 2016). "North Korea claims successful hydrogen bomb test in 'self-defence against US'". The Guardian.
- 1 2 "Yes, North Korea Probably Tested an H-Bomb — Just Not the Kind You're Thinking Of". VICE News. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
- ↑ "North Korea says it just tested a hydrogen bomb. Here's what we know". Vox. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
- ↑ "North Korea nuclear H-bomb claims met by scepticism". BBC News Asia. BBC. 6 January 2016. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
- ↑ Windrem, Robert. "North Korea Likely Lying About Hydrogen Bomb Test, Experts Say". NBC News. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
- ↑ Safi, Michael. "North Korea test: what is a miniaturised hydrogen bomb?". the Guardian. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
- ↑ "North Korea could hit US homeland with nuclear weapon, says top admiral". the Guardian. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
- ↑ "North Korea H-bomb test: 7 key questions answered". CNN. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
- ↑ Gsponer, Andre (2 February 2008). "Fourth Generation Nuclear Weapons: Military effectiveness and collateral effects" (PDF). Independent Scientific Research Institute. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
External links
- Fourth Generation Nuclear Weapons: Military effectiveness and collateral effects
- Arun Vishwanathan, S. Chandrashekar, L.V. Krishnan and Lalitha Sundaresan. North Korea's 2016 Nuclear Test: An Analysis. ISSSP Report No. 1-2016. Bangalore: International Strategic and Security Studies Programme, National Institute of Advanced Studies, January 10, 2016.