North Korean nuclear test confirmed in major escalation by Kim Jong-un

Regime confirms sixth nuclear detonation following earthquake that was detected by China, South Korea and the US.

North Korea says it has tested a powerful hydrogen bomb that can be loaded on to an intercontinental ballistic missile, in a move that is expected to increase pressure on Donald Trump to defuse the growing nuclear crisis on the Korean peninsula.

In an announcement carried on state TV, North Korea said the test, its sixth since 2006, had been a “complete success” and involved a “two-stage thermonuclear weapon” with “unprecedented” strength.

There has been no independent verification of the North’s claims that it has achieved a key goal in its nuclear programme - the ability to miniaturise a warhead so that it can fit on a long-distance missile.

Hours earlier, the regime released footage of what it claimed was a hydrogen bomb that would be loaded on to a new ICBM.

The TV announcement – accompanied by patriotic music and images of North Korean scenery and military hardware – said the test had been ordered by the country’s leader, Kim Jong-un.

The explosion was heralded by a 6.3-magnitude earthquake about six miles (10km) from North Korea’s Punggye-ri nuclear test site in the north-east of the country. It was felt over the Chinese border in Yanji.

South Korea’s meteorological administration estimated the blast yield at between 50 to 60 kilotons, or five to six times stronger than North Korea’s fifth test in September last year.

Kim Young-woo, the head of South Korea’s parliamentary defence committee said later that the yield was as high as 100 kilotons. One kiloton is equivalent to 1,000 tons of TNT.

The previous nuclear blast in North Korea is estimated by experts to have been about 10 kilotons.

Sunday’s test – the first since Trump took office in January – offers further evidence that North Korea is moving perilously close to developing a nuclear warhead capable of being fitted on to an ICBM that can strike the US mainland.

Since it conducted its first nuclear test just over a decade ago, the regime has strived to refine the bombs’ design and reliability, as well as increasing their yield.

Hydrogen bombs are far more powerful than the atomic weapons the North is believed to have tested so far. Whatever its eventual yield, Sunday’s test was “a staged thermonuclear weapon” that represents a significant advance in Pyongyang’s weapons programme, said Jeffrey Lewis of the California-based Middlebury Institute of International Studies.

As the US and countries in the region analysed data resulting from the quake, Japan’s government was the first to state publicly that it was confident the shockwaves came from an underground nuclear explosion in North Korea.

The US Geological Survey and China’s Earthquake Administration said they had detected a suspected explosion that caused a 6.3-magnitude earthquake.

The USGS said the tremor was located 24km north-east of Sungjibaegam in North Hamgyeong province. “It’s an explosion rather than an earthquake,” said Jana Pursley, a USGS geophysicist.

The Chinese earthquake administration said in a statement on its website that the shock, which occurred around 11.30am local time, was recorded at a depth of zero metres.

China’s foreign ministry said in a statement: “The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has once again conducted a nuclear test in spite of widespread opposition from the international community. The Chinese government resolutely opposes and strongly condemns it.”

South Korea was convening an emergency meeting of its national security council to discuss the possible cause of the quake, according to local media.

Japan’s government said it would lodge a strong protest pending confirmation that the quakes were caused by nuclear tests. “If North Korea has indeed gone ahead with a nuclear test, it is completely unacceptable and we must lodge a strong protest,” said the prime minister, Shinzo Abe.

His defence minister, Itsunori Onodera, said “sniffer” planes capable of detecting radioactive fallout had been deployed to monitor the aftermath of the blast. “We’ll do our best to collect information,” he said, according to public broadcaster NHK.

South Korea’s meteorological administration later challenged reports that a second earthquake had occurred near the same nuclear test site. Earlier reports citing China’s earthquake agency said a second quake had been detected eight minutes after the first.

The agency later said the second tremor could have been caused by a cave-in near the underground nuclear test site.

Zhang Zhiyuan, a journalist for the Chinese newspaper Yanji News, said he had felt the earthquake caused by the nuclear blast. “I was having lunch in a restaurant when the lights just started shaking,” Zhang, who lives and works near China’s border with North Korea, told the Guardian. “People here have all run outside of their apartments.”

Trump last month threatened to unleash “fire and fury” against the regime if it continued to threaten the US and its allies with ballistic missiles.

In a telephone call on Sunday morning Japan time, Trump and Abe “reaffirmed the importance of close cooperation between the United States, Japan, and South Korea in the face of the growing threat from North Korea”, according to a statement.

Sunday’s tests again demonstrated North Korea’s ability to skirt sanctions targeting its missile and weapons technology. UN security council measures ban the regime from testing nuclear or ballistic missile technology, but that did not prevent it from carrying out two nuclear tests and launching more than 20 ballistic missiles last year alone.

North Korea in 2016 conducted its fourth and fifth nuclear tests, saying the fourth in January that year was a successful hydrogen bomb test, although experts questioned whether it was a fully fledged hydrogen bomb.

The fifth nuclear test, in September 2016, was measured to be possibly North Korea’s biggest detonation ever, but the earthquake it caused was still not believed to be big enough to indicate a full thermonuclear test.

The regime detonated its first nuclear device in 2006, followed by tests in 2009 and 2013.

Hours before reports of Sunday’s nuclear test emerged, the regime said it had developed a more advanced nuclear weapon that had “great destructive power”, and that Kim had inspected a hydrogen bomb that would be loaded on to a new ICBM.

Pyongyang test launched two ICBM-class missiles in July that potentially had a range of about 10,000km (6,200 miles), putting the mainland US within reach.

Under Kim, North Korea has defied several rounds of UN sanctions and ploughed resources into building working nuclear weapons and missiles with enough range to deliver them as far away as the US mainland – a development that would considerably strengthen Pyongyang’s hand in any negotiations with Washington.

The North’s official KCNA news agency said the hydrogen bomb showcased in photographs at the weekend was adjustable to hundreds of kilotons in explosive power and could be detonated at high altitudes, with its indigenously produced components allowing the country to build as many nuclear weapons as it wants.

Kim visited the country’s Nuclear Weapons Institute and “watched an H-bomb to be loaded into new ICBM”, KCNA said. “All components of the H-bomb were homemade and all the processes … were put on the Juche basis, thus enabling the country to produce powerful nuclear weapons as many as it wants,” said the KCNA.

Juche is North Korea’s homegrown go-it-alone ideology that is a mix of Marxism and extreme nationalism preached by state founder Kim Il-sung, the current leader’s grandfather.

Kim had “set forth tasks to be fulfilled in the research into nukes”, KCNA said, but it made no mention of plans for a sixth nuclear test.

Sunday’s nuclear detonation is expected to raise pressure on the US to address the demonstrable advances the North is making in its missile and weapons development.

While it is difficult to independently verify North Korean claims about its missile and nuclear weapons programmes, no one doubts that it is improving its capability with each new test.

However, the extent of its ability to consistently miniaturise nuclear warheads so they can fit on long-range missiles remains unclear.

“Though we cannot verify the claim, (North Korea) wants us to believe that it can launch a thermonuclear strike now, if it is attacked,” Adam Mount, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, told Associated Press. “Importantly [North Korea] will also want to test this warhead, probably at a larger yield, to demonstrate this capability.”

Trump has said that all options remain on the table, but last week appeared to rule out any contact with the regime, declaring: “Talking is not the answer.”

Other administration officials quickly stressed that dialogue with the regime was still the preferred option. James Mattis, the defence secretary, flatly contradicted the president’s statement, telling reporters: “We’re never out of diplomatic solutions.”

Justin McCurry in Tokyo

With additional reporting by Wang Zhen in Beijing.

* The Guardian. Sunday 3 September 2017 08.24 BST First published on Sunday 3 September 2017 07.40 BST:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/03/north-korean-nuclear-test-confirmed-in-major-escalation-by-kim-jong-un

---

 South Korea may deploy ’most powerful US tactical weapons’ in response

South Korea says nuclear test should be met with ’strongest possible’ response.

Trump condemns ’hostile and dangerous’ North Korea over nuke test
South Korea has said it will consider deploying the most powerful US tactical weapons after North Korea claimed to have detonated a hydrogen bomb in its sixth nuclear test.

Moon Jae-in, South Korea’s President, called for the “strongest possible” response to the nuclear test, including new UN Security Council sanctions to “completely isolate” the North.

Seoul and Washington also discussed deploying US strategic military assets to the Korean peninsula, South Korea’s national security adviser Chung Eui-yong said in a news briefing.

South Korea’s presidential office said the security chiefs for Seoul and Washington had spoken following North Korea’s sixth nuclear test.

A spokesman said US National Security Adviser HR McMaster spoke with Mr Chung, his South Korean counterpart, for 20 minutes in an emergency phone call about an hour after the detonation.

China’s Foreign Ministry urged North Korea to stop its “wrong” actions.

The ministry said in a statement on its website that China resolutely opposed and strongly condemned North Korea’s actions, and urged the country to respect UN Security Council resolutions.

Japanese and South Korean officials said an earthquake detected near the North’s test site was around 10 times more powerful than previous detonations, and concluded the North had conducted its sixth nuclear test.

It was the North’s first nuclear test since US President Donald Trump took office, and marked a direct challenge to Mr Trump, who hours earlier had talked by phone with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe about the “escalating” nuclear crisis in the region.

North Korea said in an announcement on state television that a hydrogen bomb test ordered by leader Kim Jong-un was a “perfect success” and a “meaningful” step in completing the country’s nuclear weapons programmes.

The bomb was designed to be mounted on its newly developed intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) the North said in the announcement, which came hours after the US Geological Survey (USGS) reported a 6.3 magnitude quake.

Samuel Osborne
@SamuelOsborne93

Additional reporting by agencies

* The Independent Online. Sunday 3 September 2017 09:16 BST32:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/north-korea-nuclear-bomb-test-south-korea-deploy-most-powerful-us-tactical-weapons-response-a7926651.html

---

 Xi Jinping says a dark shadow looms over the world after years of peace

Timing of North Korea’s latest nuclear test represents a diplomatic embarrassment for Chinese president at Brics talks.

A dark shadow is looming over the world after more than half a century of peace, the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, has said after North Korea’s sixth nuclear test.

Xi made no direct reference to Sunday morning’s detonation as he addressed an annual summit of the Brics nations but told his audience that only through dialogue, consultation and negotiation could “the flame of war be put out”.

“Thanks to the joint effort of all countries, global peace has reigned for more than half a century. However, incessant conflicts in some parts of the world and hotspot issues are posing challenges to world peace,” Xi said in his 40-minute address to a summit attended by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa in south-east China.

“The intertwined threats of terrorism and a lack of cybersecurity – among others – have cast a dark shadow over the world. People around the world want peace and cooperation, not conflict or confrontation.”

The timing of North Korea’s latest nuclear test represents a major diplomatic embarrassment for Xi, who has been attempting to burnish his credentials as a foreign policy guru ahead of a key Communist party congress next month. Last week, state media televised a six-part homage to Xi’s foreign policy achievements, hailing the “whirlwind of charisma” he had taken to five continents and 56 different countries since taking power nearly five years ago.

Xi had hoped to further boost his image as an international statesman by hosting this week’s Brics summit, an event that has now been upstaged by Kim Jong-un’s nuclear test.

Sunday morning’s test caused a 6.3-magnitude earthquake, which shook towns and villages along eastern sections of China’s 880-mile border with North Korea and sent residents racing out into the streets.

“I was having lunch in a restaurant when the lights just started shaking,” Zhang Zhiyuan, a journalist for the Yanji News, who lives and works less than 20 miles from the border, told the Guardian. “People here have all run outside of their apartments.”

Video footage released by Xinhua, China’s official news agency, showed light fittings trembling in one home following the test.

Hundreds of miles west in Beijing, the political reaction was muted. China’s foreign ministry issued a brief statement, in which it said Beijing “resolutely opposes and strongly condemns” the test. “China will work with the international community … to unswervingly push forward the denuclearisation of the peninsula and to unswervingly maintain peace and stability on the peninsula,” added the statement, which was similar to previous Chinese condemnations of North Korean tests.

The Global Times, a Communist party-controlled tabloid that sometimes reflects official views, criticised North Korea’s apparently most powerful nuclear test yet as “another wrong choice” from Pyongyang.

“This test will result in a new round of escalating tensions on the Korean peninsula and heighten the risk of the situation spiraling out of control due to possible miscalculations by all sides,” it said in an English-language editorial. “In face of such a complicated situation, China needs a sober mind.”

“The Chinese government should feel angry, unhappy and disappointed,” said Cheng Xiaohe, an associate professor of international relations at Beijing’s Renmin University. “The nuclear test is a slap in the face for China.”

Experts say Beijing is wary of placing too much pressure on Pyongyang for fear of causing regime collapse and a calamitous regional crisis that might ultimately bring US troops even closer to Chinese soil.

But Cheng said he believed Beijing needed to ratchet up the pressure on Kim while also dispatching a special envoy to Pyongyang for direct talks with its leaders. “I think it’s time for everybody to put their cards on the table. The time for business-as-usual has passed.”

Shen Dingli, an international relations expert from Shanghai’s Fudan University, said Sunday’s test underlined the futility of both Washington and Beijing’s policies towards North Korea.

“North Korea is determined to get nuclear weapons [so] whatever sanctions and international opposition there is will fail. China will continue to promote failure through its failing policy of more tests, more sanctions, more sanctions, more tests. China has entered a deadlock. North Korea will get nuclear weapons just like China did in the 1960s ... China is destined to fail.

Shen said he also believed it was only a matter of time before Donald Trump realised he had no choice but to sit down with Kim.

“He is a businessman. He is a smart man. Donald Trump will be the first US president to accept North Korea’s nuclear weapons,” he said.

John Delury, a North Korea expert from Yonsei University in Seoul, said he believed it was also time for Washington to start direct talks with Pyongyang: “They are barrelling ahead on their nuclear and missile programmes and we need to find an off-ramp.”

Tom Phillips in Beijing

Additional reporting by Wang Zhen

* The Guardian. Sunday 3 September 2017 11.34 BST Last modified on Sunday 3 September 2017 16.29 BST:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/03/xi-jinping-dark-shadow-north-korea-nuclear-test-chinese-brics

---

 This nuclear test means Trump must now start talks with North Korea

The US president has postured and threatened while Kim Jong-un has simply ploughed on building a nuclear warhead and a missile that can carry it

North Korea’s apparent sixth nuclear test is not a surprise to anyone who follows the regime’s programme closely. Since April, the analysts at 38 North have been saying the regime was ready, and South Korean intelligence has been predicting it since last week. There is a narrative that the North Koreans are overtaking our expectations – true, perhaps, in terms of their capabilities, but not in terms of the likelihood of the test itself.

Kim Jong-un wants us to see this is as a weaponisation test for his intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). We need time and technical analysis on that point. But it is clear they are barrelling ahead with their nuclear and missile programme. And we need to find an off-ramp.

The test does not fundamentally change the situation on the Korean peninsula, though it is another acceleration. What is still missing is diplomacy. It is up to the Trump administration whether they want to flip this into an opportunity to belatedly start talking directly to Pyongyang, or just continue down the beaten track of shows of force, more UN sanctions, and secondary sanctions. More of the same stuff that has been done for the last eight years.

Donald Trump has tried to convince the public that he has talked tough and now the regime respects him for it. But that is incredibly simplistic, and shows how much learning has to be done to understand what is really going on. Trump’s signalling to North Korea is all over the map and that is part of the problem – because actually, the North Korean signals are fairly consistent. Incredibly, as all this is taking place, it is being reported that Trump is thinking of withdrawing from the free trade agreement with South Korea.

Trump has rebooted his team to some extent – a new chief-of-staff is trying to get things in order. On North Korea, they need to have a real huddle and rethink their approach.

John Delury

* The Guardian. Sunday 3 September 2017 06.55 BST Last modified on Sunday 3 September 2017 10.30 BST:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/03/this-north-korean-nuclear-test-means-trump-must-now-start-talks

• John Delury is a North Korea expert at Yonsei University in Seoul

---