Are North Korean Hydrogen Bombs Among Nuclear Breakthroughs in 2015?

Summary: North Korean hydrogen bombs and miniaturized warheads are among nuclear breakthroughs announced by Democratic People’s Republic leader Kim Jong Un in 2015.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (front) visits Phyongchon Revolutionary Site, in undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang Dec. 10, 2015 (Reuters/KCNA): Reuters @Reuters, via Facebook Dec. 10, 2015

The Democratic People’s Republic acknowledges North Korean hydrogen bombs as among nuclear breakthroughs that also assure miniaturized nuclear weapons, according to a report Dec. 10, 2015, by the Korean Central News Agency.

Yonhap (“United”) News Agency of Seoul, South Korea, bases coverage upon press exchange agreements since 2002 with Pyongyang’s national government and Workers’ Party of (North) Korea. The announcement of nuclear breakthroughs came about during North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s tour of a historic weapons industry location, the remodeled Phyongchon Revolutionary Site.

The North Korean leader described his country as being “a powerful nuclear weapons state ready to detonate a self-reliant A-bomb and H-bomb to reliably defend its sovereignty and the dignity of the nation.”

The announcement eclipses U.N. Security Council meetings over United Nations Commission of Inquiry on North Korea – Creation, Methodology, Conclusions and Prognosis Report of February 17, 2014.

The report furnishes the one-year findings of a panel chaired by Michael Kirby of Australia and comprising Sonja Biserko of Serbia and Marzuki Darusman of Indonesia. The 400-page report got together confidential interviews from over 240 victims and witnesses, first-hand public-hearing testimony of 80 witnesses and 80 formal submissions from various entities. It holds that violations occur against freedom of expression, movement, religion, right to life, and thought and through abductions, arrests, detentions, disappearances, prison camps and starvations.

The report invited referral to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands.

Chile, Jordan, Lithuania, Malaysia, New Zealand and Spain as non-permanent members joined France, the United Kingdom and the United States in calling 2015’s Security Council meeting. Resistance to the ICC’s involvement kept Angola and Venezuela as non-permanent members, and China and the Russian Federation as permanent members, in agreement regarding North Korea.

China and Russia also led in considering as other than world-threatening North Korean hydrogen bombs and nuclear warheads-building and in downplaying reactions against country or leader. Aleksey Pushkov, Russian foreign affairs committee head and lower legislature member, mentioned as likely North Korean scientists being close to thermonuclear bomb-making than already being there.

China Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying noted prioritizing “peace and stability” throughout Korea.

David Albright, former U.N. weapons inspector and Institute for Science and International Security founding president, offered possibilities of North Korea having 10 to 15 atomic weapons. He perceives North Korea’s plutonium and uranium as allowing annual increases in atomic weapons and miniaturized warheads for short missiles but not for intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Jeffrey Lewis, East Asia Nonproliferation Program director at Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, California, questions whether North Korea currently has thermonuclear bomb-making capabilities while conceding that “I don’t expect them to keep testing basic devices indefinitely either.”

Lee Chun-geun, researcher at the Science and Technology Policy Institute in Seoul, South Korea, reveals similar reservations since both countries contemplate cross-border tours and separated-family reunions.

Soldiers march with "nuclear backpacks," with an unknown purpose, in military parade at Pyongyang's Kim Il-Sung Square, Oct. 10, 2015, 09:54:42, in celebration of the 70th anniversary of Workers' Party: Uwe Brodrecht, CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (front) visits Phyongchon Revolutionary Site, in undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang Dec. 10, 2015 (Reuters/KCNA): Reuters @Reuters, via Facebook Dec. 10, 2015, @ https://www.facebook.com/Reuters/posts/1041506565869699

Soldiers march with "nuclear backpacks," with an unknown purpose, in military parade at Pyongyang's Kim Il-Sung Square, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2015, 09:54:42, in celebration of the 70th anniversary of Workers' Party; Saturday, Oct. 10, 2015, 09:54:42: Uwe Brodrecht, CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:0957_-_Nordkorea_2015_-_Pjöngjang_-_Parade_zum_75._JT_der_Arbeiterpartei_(22976775845).jpg;
Uwe Brodrecht (uwebrodrecht), CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/uwebrodrecht/22976775845/

For further information:

Bose, Niladri. 11 December 2015. “We Have Hydrogen Bomb – North Korea.” Times News Daily > Living.
Available @ http://timesnewsdaily.com/we-have-hydrogen-bomb-north-korea-6088

Dr. Mark P. Barry @DrMarkPBarry. 11 December 2015. "North Korea, Under UN Scrutiny,  Turns to H-Bomb 'Scare Tactic.'" Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/DrMarkPBarry/status/675352299414405121

Hanna, Jason; Hume, Tim; and Griffiths, James. 12 December 2015. “North Korea Claims It Has H-Bomb as U.N. Discusses Human Rights Abuses.” Cable News Network > Asia.
Available @ http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/10/asia/north-korea-thermonuclear-claim/

“Institutional Human Rights Violations in Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Pose Threat to International Peace, Security, Security Council Told.” United Nations > Security Council > Meetings Coverage > 10 December 2015.
Available @ http://www.un.org/press/en/2015/sc12151.doc.htm

The Next News Network. 9 December 2015. "Breaking: North Korea Just Made A Game Changing Announcement That Has Millions On Alert." YouTube.
Available @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLm3Y5Sp8V4

“North Korea’s Kim Jong-un ‘in H-Bomb Claim.’” BBC News > World > Asia > 10 December 2015.
Available @ http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-35060035

Padden, Brian. 11 December 2015. “North Korea, Under UN Scrutiny, Turns to H-Bomb ‘Scare Tactic.’” Voice of America > News / Asia.
Available @ http://www.voanews.com/content/north-korea-under-un-scrutiny-turns-to-h-bomb-scare-tactic/3098511.html

Reuters @Reuters. 10 December 2015. "North Korean leader Kim Jong Un appeared on Thursday to claim his country has developed a hydrogen bomb, a step up from the less powerful atomic bomb, but outside experts were skeptical." Facebook.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/Reuters/posts/1041506565869699

Wachtel, Jonathan. 10 December 2015. “Kim Jong Un Claims North Korea Has a Hydrogen Bomb.” Fox News Network > U.N. Security Council.
Available @ http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/12/10/kim-jong-un-claims-north-korea-has-hydrogen-bomb.html