ASIA PACIFIC

North Korea conducts sixth nuclear test, says it has developed 'perfect' H-bomb

Japan confirms isolated nation's sixth nuclear test, says it will seek tougher U.N. sanctions

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits a nuclear weapons site in this undated photo released Sunday. The country's state-run media said Kim had inspected the loading of a hydrogen bomb onto a new intercontinental ballistic missile, a claim that could not be independently verified. An apparent diagram of how the supposed bomb would fit onto the tip of the long-range missile is displayed in the background. | KCNA / VIA REUTERS

By Tomohiro Osaki, Reiji Yoshida and Jesse Johnson
Staff Writers

Sep 3, 2017

North Korea claimed Sunday to have successfully tested a hydrogen bomb capable of being loaded onto an intercontinental ballistic missile, presenting the U.S. and its allies with a new and more potent challenge as global condemnation poured in.

The test of the "two-stage thermonuclear weapon" — the North's sixth atomic blast — was ordered by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and was hailed as a "perfect success."

"The H-bomb test was carried out to examine and confirm the accuracy and credibility of the power control technology and internal structural design newly introduced into manufacturing H-bomb to be placed at the payload of the ICBM," the North's Nuclear Weapons Institute said in a statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency.