North Korea may now be armed with a deadlier nuclear weapon than the atomic bomb.
According to the BBC, the reclusive state says it has successfully tested a hydrogen bomb which can be fitted on a long-range missile.
Hydrogen bombs use fusion – the merging of atoms – to unleash huge amounts of energy, whereas atomic bombs use nuclear fission, or the splitting of atoms.
It reported that the communist state said its sixth nuclear test was a “perfect success”, hours after seismologists had detected an earth tremor.
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The news organisation said North Korea last carried out a nuclear test in September 2016, and that it had defied UN sanctions and international pressure to develop nuclear weapons and to test missiles which could potentially reach the mainland US.
It reported that South Korean officials said the latest test took place in Kilju County, where the North’s Punggye-ri nuclear test site is situated.
US President Donald Trump had issued warnings to North Korea in reaction to the state’s threat to attack the US Pacific territory of Guam and its mainland. But the communist state maintains the US is its potential target.
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Trump has vowed to respond to any North Korea nuclear attack with ‘fire and fury’.
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