January 2016 North Korean nuclear test

2016 North Korean nuclear test
Information
Country	North Korea
Test site	41.309°N 129.034°E / 41.309; 129.034, Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site, Kilju County
Period	10:00:01, 6 January 2016 (2016-01-06T10:00:01) UTC+08:30 (01:30:01 UTC)
Number of tests	1
Test type	Underground
Device type	Hydrogen according to the DPRK, Fission according to National Intelligence Service (South Korea)
Max. yield	Unknown
Test chronology

On 6 January 2016 at 10:00:01 UTC+08:30, North Korea conducted an underground nuclear test at its Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site, approximately 50 kilometres (30 miles) northwest of Kilju City in Kilju County.

The United States Geological Service reported a 5.1 magnitude earthquake from the location; the China Earthquake Networks Center reported the magnitude as 4.9.

North Korean media made announcements that the regime had successfully tested a hydrogen bomb, which had been claimed to have existed the month before the test was carried out. However, third-party experts, as well as officials and agencies in South Korea, doubted North Korea's claims, and contend that the device was more likely to have been a fission bomb such as a boosted fission weapon. Such weapons use hydrogen fusion to produce smaller, lighter warheads suitable for arming missiles, rather than to attain the destructive power of a true hydrogen bomb.

Background

Main article: North Korea and weapons of mass destruction

North Korea (officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, or DPRK) had previously conducted three underground nuclear tests in 2006, 2009, and 2013, drawing sanctions from the United Nations Security Council.

The presidents of the United States and South Korea urged North Korea to rejoin the six-party talks in October 2015. The presidents also warned North Korea against a fourth nuclear test.

In December 2015, North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong-un suggested that the country had the capacity to launch a hydrogen bomb, a device of considerably more power than conventional atomic bombs used in previous tests. The remark was met with skepticism from the White House and South Korean officials.

In a New Year's Day speech, Kim Jong-un warned that provocation from "invasive outsiders" would be met with a "holy war of justice".

North Korean claims

The North Korean government described the test as a "complete success" and characterized it as self-defense against the United States.

Korean Central Television (KCTV), the North Korean state-owned media channel, said that "the U.S. has gathered forces hostile to [the] DPRK and raised a slanderous human rights issue to hinder [the] DPRK’s improvement. It is [therefore] just to have [an] H-bomb as self-defense against the U.S. having numerous and humongous nuclear weapons. The DPRK's fate must not be protected by any forces but [the] DPRK itself."

Skepticism of the hydrogen bomb claim

The earthquake caused by the 2016 nuclear test was similar to the 5.1 magnitude earthquake that accompanied North Korea's previous 2013 nuclear test (which was estimated by South Korea to have a yield of 6–9 kilotons of TNT). The tremors were felt in Changbai, Hunchun and Yanji in Jilin province in China. China Central Television released photos of students being evacuated in the area and stated that the ground at a local high school showed cracks. According to China's Foreign Ministry, Beijing had no advance knowledge of the test.

Although North Korea declared that the 2016 test was a "successful" demonstration of a hydrogen bomb, international experts and members of the South Korean government expressed skepticism; rather, the test may have involved only a boosted fission weapon. Evidence against the claim of a hydrogen bomb detonation were that the site was not remote enough to be suitable for such a test, that North Korea was not known to have the infrastructure to produce lithium deuteride fuel, and South Korea's National Intelligence Service indicated that the yield was too low (about six kilotons). However tritium gas may be used instead of lithium deuteride, and the increased yield due to fusion in a boosted fission device seldom accounts for more than a few percent.

Bruce W. Bennett, senior defense analyst of the RAND Corporation, research organization, is also skeptical, telling BBC News that "the bang they should have gotten would have been 10 times greater … So Kim Jong-un is either lying, saying they did a hydrogen test when they didn't, they just used a little bit more efficient fission weapon – or the hydrogen part of the test really didn't work very well or the fission part didn't work very well." After considering the seismic data which suggests a 6-7 kiloton yield, other U.S. analysts also do not believe that a hydrogen bomb was detonated. "What we're speculating is they tried to do a boosted nuclear device, which is an atomic bomb that has a little bit of hydrogen, an isotope in it called tritium," said Joseph Cirincione, president of the global security firm Ploughshares Fund. Several nations sent out “sniffer planes” to collect radioactive fallout; the data should allow for a more thorough evaluation of the weapon that was tested.

On the other hand, John Carlson, member of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission and former head of the Australian Safeguards and Non-Proliferation Office declared previous North Korean tests were purely a primary stage, that is, a nuclear explosion, “and fairly low yield at that”. However, in the case of this test, he added that "if it’s true, it means they have made something (of a) smaller scale, capable of being put on to a missile" and that North Korea would be aiming to develop a weapon “small enough and light enough to put on to a missile, and the usual parameters are something less than one meter in diameter, and less than a tonne in weight”. Admiral Bill Gortney, head of US Northern Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command, said in October 2015 he believed North Korea had rockets with enough range to hit the continental US and added that "the secretive state had already developed 'miniaturised' nuclear bombs that could be fitted to these rockets". David Albright, former United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency nuclear inspector, on the contrary, thinks Pyongyang can miniaturize a warhead for shorter missiles, but not yet for intercontinental ballistic missiles, or ICBMs.

There is a clear distinction between first and second generation nuclear weapons, i.e. atomic and hydrogen bombs. However, virtually all second generation bombs use a few grams of deuterium-tritium gas "to insure the reliability and safety of the nuclear fission-explosives, which can be used on their own ('boosted fission bombs'), or as primaries of two-stage thermonuclear weapons ('hydrogen bombs'). Weapons which in contemporary arsenals do not use tritium boosting have generally sub- or low-kiloton yields, and are mostly special weapons such as atomic demolition munitions". Tritium boosting is relatively easy to implement and has advantages in yield, weight, size, safety ((zero or negligible yield when the tritium is not in the weapon), resistance to spontaneous fission caused by other warheads and high transparency to X-rays. Jeffrey Lewis, expert at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies, said that a boosted fission weapon is "the most likely scenario in my view, with a failed thermonuclear test a close second".

International reaction

The announcement led to condemnation internationally. The preparatory commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty Organization, based in Vienna, called this a wake up call for countries that have not signed the treaty (India and Pakistan) to do so and for other members (United States, Iran, Israel, Egypt and China) to finally agree to ratify it.

• South Korea – President Park Geun-hye said the country would take decisive measures against any additional provocations. She called the testing "a threat to our future … and a strong challenge to international peace and stability".

• China – Spokesperson Hua Chunying of the Chinese Foreign Ministry said the nation opposes this nuclear test. "We strongly urge the DPRK side to remain committed to its denuclearisation commitment, and stop taking any actions that would make the situation worse," she added.

• Taiwan (R.O.C.) – The Republic of China government published the statement. The statement said it has strongly condemned North Korea's action and has expressed serious concern about it.

• Pakistan - Spokesperson and prominent scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan of Pakistan Academy of Sciences said, Pakistan is delighted that the nuclear weapons it had proliferated to North Korea were being tested.

• Japan – Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe described the test as a "grave defiance of international efforts toward nuclear nonproliferation" and a threat to Japan's security, and declared that the nation would make a "firm response" to the test.

• Russian Federation – The Russian Government has condemned the nuclear bomb test, calling it a "threat to national security" and "a clear violation of international law". President Vladimir Putin has given instructions to thoroughly study data of all monitoring stations, including seismic, and analyze the situation in case the information about the test is confirmed.

• United States – The United States stated it would respond to provocations and called on North Korea to abide by its international commitments and obligations. A statement from the White House made a general statement that the country would proceed in an appropriate manner in response to provocations in order to defend its allies.

• Argentina – Through a statement by the Foreign Ministry, Argentina "strongly condemned the test carried out by North Korea", and added that the test shows the "defiant attitude of North Korea, ignoring once again the calls for a halt on such tests". As a closing statement, Argentina expressed that it hopes that North Korea "ceases its hostility toward other nations and respect the international treatment of non-proliferation".

• Australia – Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop issued a statement condemning the "provocative and dangerous behaviour of the North Korean regime" which she called "a rogue state and a continuing threat to international peace and security".

• New Zealand – New Zealand duty minister Sam Lotu-Iiga said the action was "highly provocative and irresponsible" and that New Zealand would help the United Nations Security council "ensure there was a strong response". Lotu-Iiga said the New Zealand Government "strongly urges North Korea to cease its provocative behaviour and commit to not developing, testing or possessing nuclear weapons."

• Brazil - The Foreign Ministry released a statement that condemns "strongly" the test conducted by North Korea with a hydrogen bomb. The Foreign Ministry said it had been aware of the fact with "great concern".

• Canada - Foreign Minister Stephane Dion issued a statement condemning the test, which he described as "reckless behaviour". Adding that it was a "violation of international agreements" he repeated that Canada "condemns the test without reservation".

• Colombia - The Government of Colombia, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, issued a statement condemning the test carried out by North Korea, while calling it a "threat to stability, peace, and regional, as well as global, security". The official release also made a call to cease all actions that impair peace and political stability in the Korean Peninsula.

• India – Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said it is a matter of deep concern that Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has again acted in violation of its international commitments. India called upon DPRK to refrain from such actions, which adversely impact peace and stability in the region.

• France – This country called the test an "unacceptable violation" of UN resolutions and called for a strong reaction from the international community.

• Italy – Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni called his Japanese counterpart to discuss “the necessary reactions of the international community” to what Rome called North Korea’s “provocation”.

• Philippines – The Department of Foreign Affairs stated that the Philippines strongly condemns any violation of UN Security Council Resolutions, which have demanded that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea should not have conducted further nuclear tests.

• United Kingdom – Foreign secretary Phillip Hammond said the country "strongly oppose[s] the acquisition or testing of nuclear weapons by North Korea and … [we] want to see a resumption of the six-party talks.”

• European Union – The European Commission called the test a “grave violation” of UN resolutions.

• United Nations – The Security Council held an emergency session on 6 January 2016 to discuss the legitimacy and consequences of the nuclear test. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon considers the test "profoundly destabilizing for regional security". The possibility of additions to existing sanctions by the UN is "raised," says Security Council diplomats.

• NATO – This organization said the test "undermines regional and international security, and is in clear breach of UN Security Council resolutions" and added that the country should not have nuclear weapons.

See also

• North Korea and weapons of mass destruction
• List of nuclear weapons tests of North Korea
• List of states with nuclear weapons
• Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons