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China-Japan-Koreas
North Korea Says It Tested a Hydrogen Bomb Meant for Missiles
2017-09-03
[NYTIMES] North Korea carried out its sixth and most powerful nuclear test early Sunday in an extraordinary show of defiance against President Trump, who responded by declaring the country "hostile and dangerous to the United States" and criticizing an American ally, South Korea, for "talk of appeasement."

The underground blast, which caused tremors that were felt in both South Korea and China, was the first by the North to clearly surpass the destructive power of the bombs dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II.

The government said it had tested a hydrogen bomb that could be mounted on an intercontinental ballistic missile, and hours before the detonation, it released photographs of its leader, Kim Pudge Jong-un
...the overweight, pouty-looking hereditary potentate of North Korea. Pudge appears to believe in his own divinity, but has yet to produce any loaves and fishes, so his subjects remain malnourished...
, examining what it said was the new weapon.

Hydrogen bombs are vastly more powerful than ordinary atomic weapons, and though some analysts were skeptical of the North’s claim, the early analysis indicated the device caused a blast that was roughly four times more powerful than anything the North has detonated before.
Posted by:Fred

#14  Concerning what TJ8135 said: I was at water's edge during Seafair a few weeks before the first Gulf war watching and listening to the Blue Angels thunder right overhead below mast height. I remember thinking at the time that were I Saddam I would be deeply unnerved by the experience.
Posted by: Blossom Tingle4959   2017-09-03 21:41  

#13  NY Times said the shockwaves were felt in China and South Korea but I'd always understood the US could tell the yield and other info by the magnitude of the shockwaves.
Posted by: rjschwarz   2017-09-03 19:33  

#12  Funny how all the reports are saying how North Korea says and not saying much about the US detecting a nuclear test.
Posted by: rjschwarz   2017-09-03 18:57  

#11  This afternoon I noticed North Korea is sending coded messages through the North Korean News Agency Twitter account in English. Continued phsycological warfare.

This is at this point phsycological war fare that the US is not winning because we are just talking, Kim is puting actual leathal military assets into action demonstrating tremendously dangerous capabilities. He is not talking. He is Doing.

The U S can do likewise if it would just do it. Very low high speed stealth raptor fly overs of known Kim and upper mil locations, command centers in the middle of the night is the same thing to them as Kim lainching unexpected missiles over Japan. Constant B52 high altitude sonic booms over Pongyang. The steady dripping of actual phsycological induced dread by the US in this manner can effectively counter the steady dripping of dread campaign Kim is using against his neighbors.

Play his close call action game better than him.
Posted by: Threatch Jeamp8135   2017-09-03 18:50  

#10   g(r)omgoru - the Trump voters expect something more kinetic. Seriously.

(i) How does this relates to what I said?
(ii) Trump voters also expect draining the swamp.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2017-09-03 16:51  

#9  g(r)omgoru - the Trump voters expect something more kinetic. Seriously.
Posted by: 3dc   2017-09-03 16:46  

#8  So Kimmie gets to keep his nukes. However they don't generate economic activity or feed people so all he has is some toys he cannot use.

To paraphrase Niccolo Machiavelli "Money won't always get you nukes, but nukes can get you money"
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2017-09-03 16:15  

#7  "Having Tokyo or Seoul or Los Angeles getting hit by a thermonuclear weapon in response to an attack would be unacceptable."

Ah... That's why from this point all attacks are thermonuclear or asteroid and need to include Pakistan and Iran.
Posted by: 3dc   2017-09-03 15:54  

#6  and share with Iran, Syria, .....
Posted by: Frank G   2017-09-03 15:41  

#5  Having Tokyo or Seoul or Los Angeles getting hit by a thermonuclear weapon in response to an attack would be unacceptable. So Kimmie gets to keep his nukes. However they don't generate economic activity or feed people so all he has is some toys he cannot use.
Posted by: John Frum   2017-09-03 15:16  

#4  Probably beyond that stage of 'diplomatic solutions'..... or did somebody else say that ?

We either let that nut job put everyone on the planet (less China, Russia, Pakistan, and Iran) in his crosshairs, or we go at it !

Sort of black and white at this point.
Posted by: Besoeker   2017-09-03 15:10  

#3  300 kT to 800 kT using back of envelope calculations. No doubt it was a hydrogen bomb.
Posted by: John Frum   2017-09-03 15:07  

#2  apparently, it is difficult to tell whether they have actually tested an H bomb or an A bomb with some neutron enhanced hydrogen in it
Posted by: lord garth   2017-09-03 13:26  

#1  And we just sit and watch. And complain.
Posted by: gorb   2017-09-03 13:21  

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