By Dru Barcelo
As of January 6, North Korea has claimed – for the now fourth time since 2006 – to have tested a hydrogen bomb. Governments around the world are stirring up, begging the question of, “Did it actually happen?”
“This test is a measure for self-defense the D.P.R.K. (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) has taken to firmly protect the sovereignty of the country and the vital right of the nation from the ever-growing nuclear threat and blackmail by the U.S.-led hostile forces and to reliably safeguard the peace on the Korean Peninsula and regional security,” a North Korean official claimed. This is the first test of the hydrogen bomb they have announced.
Yet the White House as well as South Korea don’t believe the North Koreans have developed a hydrogen bond- or at least a functioning one. The White House claims that the initial data from its monitoring stations in Asia were “not consistent” with a test of a hydrogen bomb. Information and data gathered by South Korea estimated that the bomb detonated on Wednesday was a magnitude 4.8 event.
With experts skeptical, both the U.S. and South Korea continue to consider North Korea a minimal threat. Many analysts believe that North Korea is again seeking aid and other concessions, while some suggest that it merely wants to be recognized as a nuclear state, like Pakistan.
President of South Korea, Park Geun-Hye, responded to these attacks promising that if the North mounted a nuclear attack, its government would be “erased from the earth.”
The United States responded with a display of military might on the Korean Peninsula. A U.S. B-52 bomber jet flew over Osan, South Korea, on Sunday “in response to a recent nuclear test by North Korea,” said the United States Pacific Command.
