The country said that it completed its first test today, prompting panic in Japan and South Korea amid security concerns.
However, experts have cast doubt on the credibility of the claims. Yan Uk, senior research fellow at the Korea Defence and Security Forum, said: “Given the scale, it is hard to believe this is a real hydrogen bomb.
“They could have tested some middle stage kind [of device] between an A-bomb and a H-bomb, but unless they come up with any clear evidence, it is difficult to trust their claim.”
North Koreans watch a news broadcast announcing the reported weapons test in Pyongyang
Analyst Joe Cirincione, a nuclear expert at global security organisation Ploughshares Fund, expressed similar doubts and said that the dictatorship may have mixed a hydrogen isotope in a normal atomic fission bomb.
“Because it is, in fact, hydrogen, they could claim it is a hydrogen bomb. But it is not a true fusion bomb capable of the massive multi-megaton yields these bombs produce.”
In pictures: North Korea hydrogen bomb test
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In pictures: North Korea hydrogen bomb test
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A lab employee from the Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety's regional office in Gangneung, east of Seoul, checks for radioactive traces in the air, in Gangneung, soon after North Korea announced it successfully conducted a hydrogen bomb test. The office in Gangneung is the closest one to the site of the North's claimed test. Officials said it will take three to four days to analyze air samples in detail for any traces of radioactivity, the Yonhap news agency reported
EPA
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North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un signing a document of a hydrogen bomb test in Pyongyang
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People watch a TV news program showing North Korea's special announcement at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea
AP
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South Korean people watch TV news at Seoul station
EPA
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Japan's meteorological agency officer Yohei Hasegawa displays a chart showing seismic activity, after a North Korean nuclear test, at the agency in Tokyo
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Ko Yun-Hwa, administrator of Korea Meteorological Administration, briefs reporters showing seismic waves from the site of North Korea's hydrogen bomb test, at his office in Seoul
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North Korea's border county of Kaepoong is seen from a South Korean observation post in Paju near the Demilitarized zone dividing the two Koreas as North Korea announced it had successfully carried out its first hydrogen bomb test
Getty Images
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A lab employee from the Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety's regional office in Gangneung, east of Seoul, checks for radioactive traces in the air, in Gangneung, soon after North Korea announced it successfully conducted a hydrogen bomb test. The office in Gangneung is the closest one to the site of the North's claimed test. Officials said it will take three to four days to analyze air samples in detail for any traces of radioactivity, the Yonhap news agency reported
EPA
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North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un signing a document of a hydrogen bomb test in Pyongyang
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People watch a TV news program showing North Korea's special announcement at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea
AP
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Getty Images
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Getty Images
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South Korean people watch TV news at Seoul station
EPA
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Japan's meteorological agency officer Yohei Hasegawa displays a chart showing seismic activity, after a North Korean nuclear test, at the agency in Tokyo
Getty Images
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Ko Yun-Hwa, administrator of Korea Meteorological Administration, briefs reporters showing seismic waves from the site of North Korea's hydrogen bomb test, at his office in Seoul
Getty Images
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North Korea's border county of Kaepoong is seen from a South Korean observation post in Paju near the Demilitarized zone dividing the two Koreas as North Korea announced it had successfully carried out its first hydrogen bomb test
Getty Images
South Korean intelligence officials have also questioned the veracity of the country’s claims. One South Korean lawmaker told Yonhap news agency that they had been informed in a private meeting by the country's spy agency that North Korea may not have conducted the test due to the relatively small size of the seismic wave reported.
North Korea allegedly test hydrogen bomb
If true, the news would mean that North Korea has successfully tested a hydrogen bomb and could launch long-range nuclear missiles.
The head of the UN Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organisation, which monitors worldwide for nuclear testing, says that if their claims are true North Korea would be in breach of the treaty and represent a grave threat to international peace and security.
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Experts cast doubts on North Korea's hydrogen bomb test claims
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Screens in Seoul show the earthquake near North Korea's nuclear facility
AP
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North Koreans watch a news broadcast announcing the reported weapons test in Pyongyang
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