"America Is A Gang Of Cruel Robbers": North Korea Boasts Of "Successful" Nuke Test As Skeptics Laugh

Overnight, we got two notable headlines out of the Far East.

First, the yuan devaluation continued unabated with the RMB falling to five-year lows and the spread between the onshore and offshore spots blowing out to record wides.

Second, Kim Jong-Un detonated an H-bomb. Or so Pyongyang says.

Around one hour after detection devices picked up a 5.1 seismic event at or near the Punggye-ri nuclear test site, a North Korean announcer appeared on state-run television to read a statement explaining why the country carried out the test. “This is the self-defensive measure we have to take to defend our right to live in the face of the nuclear threats and blackmail by the United States and to guarantee the security of the Korean Peninsula,” she said. Here's the clip which (try to watch it with a straight face):

Tremors from the blast could be felt in China.

This was the country’s fourth nuclear test and comes less than four months after the North restarted its main Yongbyon nuclear complex, which had been shuttered since 2007. The North’s "mighty" nuclear arsenal has been improved in “both quality and quantity as required by the prevailing situation,” Pyongyang’s atomic agency said in September.

"If the U.S. and other hostile forces persistently seek their reckless hostile policy towards the DPRK and behave mischievously, the DPRK is fully ready to cope with them with nuclear weapons any time,” the agency’s director added, for good measure.

Previously, the North’s nuclear tests involved plutonium weapons and if the country has indeed tested a hydrogen bomb, it would mark a serious escalation. "Another test by itself would not be that remarkable [as] the North is believed to have enough plutonium for eight to 12 weapons, [but] if the North Korean claim about a hydrogen bomb is true, this test was of a different, and significantly more threatening, nature," The New York Times notes, adding that "in recent weeks, Mr. Kim boasted that North Korea had finally developed the technology to build a thermonuclear weapon, [a] claim [which prompted] the White House to express considerable skepticism." Here's more: 

Weapon designers can easily boost the destructive power of an atom bomb by putting at its core a small amount of tritium, a radioactive form of hydrogen.

Lee Sang-cheol, the top nonproliferation official at the South Korean Defense Ministry, told a forum in Seoul last month that although Mr. Kim’s hydrogen bomb boasts might be propaganda for his domestic audience, there was a “high likelihood” that North Korea might have been developing such a boosted fission weapon.

And according to a paper obtained by the South Korean news agency Yonhap last week, the Chemical, Biological and Radiological Command of the South Korean military “did not rule out the possibility” of a boosted fission bomb test by the North, although it added it “does not believe it is yet capable of directly testing hydrogen bombs.”

"It’s more like an ordinary atomic bomb test, not a hydrogen bomb," Li Bin, a senior associate focused on nuclear policy at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said on Wednesday. That sentiment was echoed by No Hee Cheon, a professor at the nuclear and hydrogen system laboratory of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology in Daejeon. "A hydrogen bomb is a bomb that explodes using force from the detonation of multiple atomic bombs [and] today’s magnitude falls short of what we would see if a hydrogen indeed was detonated," No said, adding that "the magnitude today is even below the level of an ordinary atomic bomb."

The device had a yield of about 6 kilotones which Yang Uk, a senior research fellow at the Korea Defense and Security Forum says makes it "hard to believe this is a real hydrogen bomb." "They could have tested some middle stage kind (of device) between an A-bomb and H-bomb, but unless they come up with any clear evidence, it is difficult to trust their claim," he said.

"Because it is, in fact, hydrogen, they could claim it is a hydrogen bomb," Joe Cirincione, a nuclear expert who is president of Ploughshares Fund, a global security organization said. "But it is not a true fusion bomb capable of the massive multi-megaton yields these bombs produce".

(North Koreans applaud the announcement)

Be that as it may, the test suggests the North is advancing its nuclear program. "The incomplete data may also point to an increased possibility that North Korea is able to mount a nuclear warhead on a missile and is on the way toward developing an operational weapons program," Bloomberg wrote after the test. Last month, Kim claimed Pyongyang now has the ability to mount a nuclear warhead on a missile, suggesting the country is now capable of making good on threats to nuke the US and other "hostile" nations.

As we wrote moments after the test was announced, Kim may be struggling to keep the North relevant in a world where a series of protracted conflicts in the Mid-East have pushed the reclusive regime and its incessant sabre rattling to the geopolitical backburner. "With Iran being off the table, the North Koreans have placed themselves at the top of the foreign policy agenda as far as nation-states who present a threat to the U.S.", Michael Madden, an expert on the country's secretive leadership, said. 

The reaction from the international community was predictable: everyone condemned the test. "North Korea’s nuclear test is a serious threat to our nation’s security and we absolutely cannot tolerate it," Japanese PM Shinzo Abe said. "We strongly denounce it." Beijing - one of Pyongyang's only allies on the world stage - voiced its "resolute opposition" to the blast and says China will lodge a protest. As Reuters writes, "The White House said it could not confirm North Korea's claims of miniaturization and a hydrogen bomb test, but added the United States would respond appropriately to provocations and defend its allies."

State television also carried what it says is a hand written letter from the Supreme Leader. "Make the world to look up to our strong nuclear country and labor party by opening the year with (the) exciting noise of the first hydrogen bomb!" the document reads.

Fortunately for the US, Pyongyang says it will only use its new weapon in the event its sovereignty is violated - so bascially, Kim won't be forced to nuke the West Coast unless Washington inexplicably decides to invade North Korea.

Kim - like his father and grandfather before him - enjoys the pageantry of it all and has succeeded in convincing his people that the US is engaged in a perpetual campaign to blackmail the country and undermine the government's efforts to gain international legitimacy. On that note, we close with the following amusing quote from Pyongyang:

"The U.S. is a gang of cruel robbers which has worked hard to bring even a nuclear disaster to the DPRK."

Comments

[Greenie]

Rather than Rodman, we need One Sniper... One Shot.   The Charade would be over.

[wafer_roll]

NK takes out japan. There goes a several trillion in yen-carry trade. Iran takes out Saudi arabia. There goes another several trillion. europe is worthless. there remains only usa as the crux establishment of zionism. china and russia together can take usa out. for a bit of fun, start arming the oregon militia and blacklivesmatter. thus ends the faux tribe servants of satan rulership and time to  bind them as slaves for eternity. 

[What is The Hedge]

Kim, you da bomb!

[Pumpkin]

"so bascially, Kim won't be forced to nuke the West Coast unless Washington inexplicably decides to invade North Korea."

West coast?  WTF?  Do they have any maps over there?

[Moccasin]

It is a sad indictment of the USA when and if you were to ask an indigenous person about the American colonialism, they might also say that the American parasitic elite are a gang of cruel robbers. Nothing much has changed in the last few hundred years except that the tribes we are taught to hate are overseas, Iran, North Korea etc.... and the good guys are terrorists and terrorist supporters, the House of Saud and Israel, and why???? because it is all about money, greed and empire. The American government is the biggest liar and terrorist state ever and the people are sheeple.

[Who was that ma...]

I wonder if it was named "Little Boy" or "Fat Man", either one would suit him.

[Watson]

IMHO:

The NK's have _no_ nuclear weapons of any type (A/true H/boosted/layercake or otherwise).

What they have is:
1. A (very) small amount of fissionable material;
2. A lot of conventional high explosive;
and, most importantly,
3. A lot of scared scientists who have been told to make nuclear weapons by a guy who might shoot them
with an AA gun if they fail to deliver on his request.

So they surround the fissionable material with the explosive, and let it off so you get a little radioactive signature.
Maybe they packed a few cylinders of hydrogen around the explosive.

Watson

[onmail1]

<-- "If the U.S. and other (allies)...... behave mischievously, the DPRK is fully ready to cope with them with nuclear weapons any time,”

***********************************

*****  Congratulations to N.Korea *****

*****  Congratulations to N.Korea *****

*****  Congratulations to N.Korea *****

***********************************

<-- "The U.S. is a gang of cruel robbers"

So true

The Force Awakens

N.Korea is congratulated for this feat, Evil west is promoting all the immoral & satanic values : Homosexuality, perversion, drug abuse, violence , creating terrorists groups, toppling govts with the help of terrorists &  uprising by NGOs for installing puppet regimes, murdering heads of state.

--------------------------------

American Constitution promotes Terrorism

Amendment II

As ratified by the States and authenticated by Thomas Jefferson, then-Secretary of State:

A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

------------------------------- Pirate Captain America &  its euroPeons poodles 
euroPeons were witchcraft practicing cannibals in ancient times they ate neanderthals to extinction ;  euroPeons then became pirates , looting & burning ships;  euroPeons started slavery of people, treated humans as animals;  euroPeons attacked (peace loving) spiritually advanced civilizations killed monks & ascetics & burnt libraries in asia (by turkish);  euroPeons then became colonialists , racists , treated people as servants, slaves & second class citizens in their own countries looted all their wealth & carried to europe ...and millions died in their colonies , Columbus & his ppl butchered humans for the greed of gold in west indies, these european invaders dashed children on rocks, burnt ppl alive on wooden stakes, they competed on horsebacks  to cut bound local ppl in half in single stroke;  East India co. of British looted treasuries from eastern nations & deposited in London;  euroPeons started drug trade (opium wars) promoted drug abuse;  euroPeons invaded & grabbed lands of America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand relegating their natives to second class poor citizens who are still struggling to get on their feet;  euroPeons then started another form of piracy - swiss banks & britsh caymen islands keeping stolen money by corrupt & became rich;  You American europeons exploded nuclear bombs on Japan killing thousands of civilians in WW2;  You American europeons invaded Vietnam and killed more than 1.4 million of ppl in 60s;  You American europeons create terrorist groups such as Al-queda , Taliban, ISIS, ISIL etc and these are murdering many ppl , doing slave trade of humans, using children as soldier and as suicide bombers,  sex slaves using marriage then talaq talaq talaq, they are removing organs of their captives & selling these for money (this is happening NOW);  Now euroPeons(& americans) want oil & gas monopoly;  destroying country after country (Iraq, Libya, Syria etc) millions dead, injured, homeless;  europeons are butchering heads of state openly(Gaddafi, Saddam & now Assad targeted on false grounds);  You euroPeons & americans  are working against human rights ( Julian Assange on house arrest & Snowden made to flee);  ------------------------- You euroPeons(& americans) are a disease to planet earth

[africoman]

I love Malcom-X and absolutly ready for what he stands, and not Martin Luter King JR nor a Luis Farkan, i don't understand how he is still didn't killed,creepy.

For Our current problem at America and around the world we have had a solution long ago if he was alive, He sacrificed fighting the same enemy we had now.

You got to see this video, if you not already saw it may be his spreat will inspire us to do something about our problem.What a man!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snzSkny3SZ0