NEW YORK (TIP): North Korea’s nuclear program has been a source of great concern for the international community for more than 20 years.
The latest test, announced on 6 January 2016, was described by North Korean media as a miniaturized hydrogen bomb test. There has been no independent confirmation of this, but it is the first claim of a hydrogen bomb, known to be immensely powerful.
The previous test was conducted in February 2013 and came with the state’s first claim to have miniaturized a device, although an atomic device in that instance.
All of the tests appear to have originated at a test site called Punggye-ri, also known as P’unggye-yok, in a remote area in the east of the country, near the town of Kilju.
Multiple rounds of international negotiations amid a strict sanctions regime – a process, which has been described as a game of cat and mouse – appear to have done little to curb North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.
Little data has been collected so far from this test, but the experts are skeptical about this claim.