Can You Hear Him Now? NorKs Cause 5.3M Earthquake with 5th and Largest Detonation Yet

Little bastard.

This blast is said to have generated double the energy of NorK’s last test, and is being compared to the strength of the Hiroshima atom bomb blast…

(CNET) – North Korea claims to have detonated a nuclear warhead in defiance of international sanctions, apparently causing an earthquake that was felt in China.

“This is in clear violation of numerous UN Security Council resolutions and in complete disregard of the repeated demands of the international community,” said Yukiya Amano, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency in a statement. “It is a deeply troubling and regrettable act.”

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea was founded on this day, 9 September, in 1948. Coinciding with the anniversary, today’s detonation appears to have triggered an earthquake measured by the United States Geological Survey at a magnitude of M5.3. It was the country’s fifth nuclear test since it began testing nuclear explosives in October 2006.

MORE:

North Korea’s bomb is more powerful, but worry is miniaturization

North Korea tested its most powerful nuclear device on Friday, but the more worrying aspect for its rivals was Pyongyang’s claim that it had advanced its ability to make a nuclear weapon, by miniaturizing and mounting a warhead on a missile.

Its KCNA news agency said the test had used a nuclear warhead that had been “standardized to be able to be mounted on strategic ballistic rockets”.

“The standardization of the nuclear warhead will enable the DPRK to produce at will and as many as it wants a variety of smaller, lighter and diversified nuclear warheads of higher strike power,” KCNA said, referring to the North’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

There is little scientific evidence to verify that North Korea has perfected the science of creating a nuclear bomb small enough to fit on a ballistic missile and withstand the physics of atmospheric re-entry.

But it may be getting closer…

China's earthquake detectors also recorded the explosion in North Korea. (h/t @ArmsControlWonk) pic.twitter.com/PmXOoD5CdU

— Anna Fifield (@annafifield) September 9, 2016

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