N. Korea - NUCLEAR THEATRE OF THE ABSURD by Leuren Moret

06:53 07.01.2016

North Korea’s latest nuclear test was almost certainly not a real hydrogen bomb or thermonuclear device, former US Chief of Naval Operations science and policy advisor Theodore Postol told Sputnik.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said in a biefing on Wednesday that the preliminary evaluation of the alleged North Korean nuclear test does not support Pyongyang’s claims of a successful tryout.

• “The only thing I can imagine them doing given their technological and resource limitations is putting tritium and deuterium [containers] in the cavity of a normal atomic bomb,” Postol, who is also an MIT Professor Emeritus of Science, Technology and National Security Policy, said on Wednesday.

North Korea’s official Central Television reported the underground test earlier on Wednesday as being a full hydrogen bomb, but Postol said it was much more likely to have been a regular atomic weapon with tritium and deuterium, two radioactive hydrogen-related elements, added in.

• “If the plutonium implosion works properly they probably would be able to ignite the tritium and deuterium,” Postol said.

To give off high energy, 14-million volt neutrons from the fusion reaction would increase the efficiency of a plutonium burn until it disassembled and the nuclear reaction stopped, he explained.

• “This would result in higher energy [but] this is not a multi-stage thermonuclear device or hydrogen bomb which has an atomic bomb next to an assembly of other nuclear materials to ignite a full fusion reaction,” the scientist explained.

The temperatures achieved in the thermonuclear burn are somewhat higher than a regular nuclear weapon, but they are not thermonuclear, or multi-phase nuclear weapons, which are very difficult and challenging technological devices to make, he cautioned.

It took decades of experience by accomplished nuclear weapons designers in the great powers to create 200 kiloton warheads weighing 200 pounds apiece of the kind that are carried by US cruise missiles, he explained.

• The North Koreans, however, “are not close to that kind of thing,” he emphasized.

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Now, Sit Back and Enjoy Korea’s Feature Performance

Asia & Pacific | 19:53 06.01.2016 | (updated 22:20 06.01.2016) | http://sptnkne.ws/axr4

North Korea’s testing of a hydrogen bomb may worsen its relations with China, which have gradually improved over the past years, said Andrei Lankov, a professor at South Korea’s Kookmin University.

Earlier today, South Korean media reported that a strong earthquake occurred in North Korea near the Phungeri nuclear test site in Yangkang Province. Later, Pyongyang said in an official statement that North Korea had successfully tested a hydrogen bomb.

This was a wrong move for North Korea, as Pyongyang’s action might have enraged China with whom which North Korea has been seeking to improve relations for the past few years.

• “Tests have done great damage to Sino-North Korean relations,” Lankov, who’s an expert in East Asian politics, said.

China has already voiced its disapproval of North Korea’s test of a hydrogen bomb.

“Today North Korea has announced a nuclear test. The Chinese government firmly opposes it. The prevention of nuclear proliferation and the provision of peace and stability in Northeastern Asia — this is China’s position,” China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said.

Hua said that Beijing has called on Pyongyang to act in accordance with its obligations in the area of nuclear non-proliferation.

The Chinese government might even avoid harsh public statements condemning Pyongyang, but next thing you know Beijing would suddenly need to replace several bolts in oil pipelines leading to North Korea or find an unknown toxic substance in products destined to North Korea, Lankov said, hinting how the Chinese could punish Pyongyang.

• “Currently, many top officials within the Chinese government don’t particularly like North Korea, but the Chinese strategic interests demand a stable split on the Korean peninsula,” Lankov explained.

If good relations with China are so important to North Korea, then why did Pyongyang decide to test a hydrogen bomb, making Beijing angry? Lankov suggested that it could have happened due to the lack of coordination between the North Korean military and its diplomats.

A few times in the past, the military carried out tests which set back the work of North Korean diplomats. For example in February 2012, Pyongyang signed an important agreement with the United States about the delivery of some food supplies into North Korea. However, Washington scrapped the deal two weeks later after the North Korean military tested one of its nuclear missiles, Lankov reminded.

Related:

• South Korean Media Uses Soviet Footage of Hydrogen Bomb, Not North Korea’s
• North Korea’s Nuclear Bomb Testing ‘Clear Violation’ of UNSC Resolutions
• India Voices ‘Deep Concern’ Over North Korea’s Hydrogen Bomb Test

Tags:

⚫️ relations ⚫️ missile test ⚫️ hydrogen bomb ⚫️ Andrei Lankov ⚫️ China ⚫️ North Korea ⚫️

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