Has North Korea joined the thermo-nuclear club?

[John Hill]

Claims from North Korea they that have tested a 'hydrogen bomb'...

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-35240012

[dubbleyew eight]

I think that it is axiomatic that the islamic states and those that are driven by paranoia are striving for nuclear arms capability
to protect themselves from the United States.

and the US with a thousand overseas bases and kill programs in over a hundred countries isn't helping the situation one little bit.

[19downbubble]

The most recent quake readings were the same order as 2013, around M5.1. So the size of the bang was probably similar, around 8kT. Since a fusion bomb needs a fission bomb to start the fun, it's unlikely to be a fusion device. Of course, they could be testing a fission-based initiator for a fusion design. Or maybe a boosted fission design so they can go the dial-a-bang route. One imagines someone, somewhere, has been looking at satellite photos to see if there's any tritium or deuterium (or lithium deuteride) being moved around NK.

[500N]

Latest reports seem to be a bomb that didn't go nuclear so maybe a failed reaction ?
They also said no additional radiation.


Interesting that China not happy with NK and had warned them not to do it.
Will be interesting to see what develops.

[Chuks]

.....Deleted by me.....

If anyone wants to know about what is in my Secret Room, please send me a PM, along with a piece of fruit wrapped in a white handkerchief and a clean $50 banknote.

[Alisoncc]

If anyone wants to know about what is in my Secret Room, please send me a PM, along with a piece of fruit wrapped in a white handkerchief and a clean $50 banknote.

As requested items sent to you at your email address. Look forward to a reply.

[Chuks]

One wonders how far North Korea shall get with its nuclear program before either social collapse or external force intervenes. It's troubling to have to wonder whether or not it would be worth wiping out the shaky Kim regime and taking whatever the consequences of that should be for both China and South Korea.

Kim as he is is worrisome; Kim with nukes added is extremely worrisome! Let the little bastard have some sort of credible delivery vehicles and then whatever he's on about, drowning us in some sea of fire or whatever, takes on a much larger dimension. We did not take Hitler seriously, reading Mein Kampf, and now we seem to discount whatever Kim Jong-Un says, even his declarations of war. Actually, given the little guy's warped personality, he might be perfectly serious with whatever he threatens, simply lacking the means to carry out his threats so far.

On the other hand, when we think about how we had to take Saddam Hussein's threat of the "Mother of all Battles" somewhat seriously, followed by seeing that he could not fight his way out of a wet paper bag, then one must think that much of North Korea's military capability might be over-estimated in somewhat the same way. Certainly when you look at their propaganda material then their military looks like a joke, just in terms of their equipment.

Then again, though, it must be a given that North Korea shall be able to inflict an insane amount of damage on South Korea before finally going down to defeat. One wonders if the US and China might be able to come to some sort of quiet agreement that should see Kim turned into a grease spot, as the preferred option come what may. It is not as though, John Hill's protestations to the contrary, the Kim regime has even a scant claim to legitimacy as some sort of national government; nobody would miss it much if it were done away with, aside from perhaps John Hill.

Sorry, Alison, but I should have been more specific. It was not a $50 Zimbabwe banknote that I wanted. For that you get only the basic information, that my Secret Room is upholstered in warm, red leatherette (a decorating concept I stole from John Hill, who must have stolen it in turn). To unlock the rest of my Secrets then you need to send me $50 US! (For just $50 more, $100 in all, you can also have the details of a blocked Nigerian bank account holding $13 million, once the property of the late General Sani Abacha and now mine. How about that?)

[Rwy in Sight]

Chucks,

Thanks for the opportunity to test my near sight (I did not enlarge the fonts).

Back in the thread are we sure that Mr. Kim is not about to sell his newly acquired toys to people who don't like the West and they DO intend to use them?

[Chuks]

They have done already. I think Libya got help from North Korea with their aborted nuclear program.

[MoreAviation]

The big concern here is not so much as to whether this was a fission explosion, a boosted fission blast or a true thermonuclear explosion but rather the fact that the test underlines North Korean commitment to enhance their technology to allow a viable weapon to be mounted on one of their rickety missiles. Their pursuit of submarine based missile launch technology is a truly worrying development...

[dubbleyew eight]

and in all this north korea is about the size of tasmania.

[slfsfu]

I note that John Hill does not give his opinion on this development.

So I'll ask the question, JH, what is your opinion on this news?

[500N]

I think Chuks is on the right track .......

"One wonders if the US and China might be able to come to some sort of quiet agreement that should see Kim turned into a grease spot, as the preferred option come what may."

China doesn't want Kim upsetting the apple cart, even the US apple cart even though China and NK are both communist.

[MoreAviation]

I think this Korean human rights activist has it about right with respect to Kim Jong-un...

A North Korean human rights activist has hit out at Westerners for laughing at Kim Jong-un instead of treating him like a “murderer”.

Yeonmi Park, 22, escaped the totalitarian regime with her family when she was 13 and now campaigns against the alleged human rights abuses taking place under Kim’s dictatorship.

Speaking at the 2015 One Young World Summit in Bangkok, the North Korean defector said after escaping she didn’t understand why the West made fun of Kim Jong-un.

“But Kim Jong-un is not a joke to me. He was a God I had to worship every day. He is a murderer. Making fun of dictators cannot be enough. Why is it so funny?”

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/north-korean-defector-yeonmi-park-criticises-westerners-for-making-fun-of-kim-jong-un-saying-he-is-a-a6741906.html

[500N]

It's only the west that make fun of him.

But the west can't do anything without China or the OK from China and I don't think that is going to happen, yet.

[angels]

I always said at the time that everyone who laughed at Idi Amin were ignoring the fact that he was a very unfunny genocidal maniac who was murdering -- directly and indirectly -- hundreds of thousands of people.

Kim is the same. He is evil incarnate.

[MoreAviation]

The most recent quake readings were the same order as 2013, around M5.1. So the size of the bang was probably similar, around 8kT. Since a fusion bomb needs a fission bomb to start the fun, it's unlikely to be a fusion device. Of course, they could be testing a fission-based initiator for a fusion design. Or maybe a boosted fission design so they can go the dial-a-bang route. One imagines someone, somewhere, has been looking at satellite photos to see if there's any tritium or deuterium (or lithium deuteride) being moved around NK.

Pretty much the growing consensus of opinion around the world... see article...

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/06/north-korea-hydrogen-bomb-test-claim-met-with-increasing-scepticism

In the old days the US would have had a U2 fly over the site to take air samples to check for the relevant radionuclides relevant to a fission, boosted or fusion shot. Perhaps they already have! It seems likely that this was just another small fission device designed to get the world's attention in preparation prior to the fat one's birthday and to bring NK back onto the world's agenda.

[rgbrock1]

Someday China is going to get fed up, sick and tired, of Kim Fat Wun's antics and rid the planet of the pesky blimp.

[MoreAviation]

Someday China is going to get fed up, sick and tired, of Kim Fat Wun's antics and rid the planet of the pesky blimp.

I suspect their irritation with the "pesky blimp" (as you so correctly describe him) is tempered by the fear that the regime will collapse and there will be a huge tide of refugees heading their way. The Chinese regime are conservative (in the true sense of that word). I suspect that South Korea would also be very wary of a sudden collapse in North Korea.

[BenThere]

In the old days the US would have had a U2 fly over

That was the old days. Now, our CINC sees global warming, rednecks running amok, and guns held by the citizenry as the major, critical threats. Those things even bring Him to tears.

North Korea's nuclear program doesn't merit an interruption of the back nine.