North Korea’s Nuclear Capability?

This Thursday, North Korean state media announced that they have developed a hydrogen bomb, raising serious concerns in the international community. CNN released an article yesterday describing the situation. Apparently, although these are grave threats, as the hydrogen bomb is the most powerful explosive technology known to man at this point, many think it is unlikely that North Korea has made such a sudden jump in technology to include thermonuclear weaponry in its arsenal.

Experts claim that it is very hard to see technical evidence that they have made this jump, and some believe that this was simply a propaganda tactic by Kim Jong Un to gain a better bargaining position in the global community. If these threats are truly idle (let’s hope), then North Korea’s announcement could be seen as an attempt to use soft power to cover up for a lack of hard power. Since it is a nation generally shrouded in mystery to the Western world, it is difficult to tell what is the truth and what isn’t.

Analysts have determined that North Korea has been working towards developing such a weapon, but it is unlikely that they have reached that point. This threat still should be taken seriously, however, as a thermonuclear bomb can be hundreds of times more powerful than an atomic bomb, like the ones dropped by the U.S. on Japan in WWII.