Kim Jong Un claims North Korea has developed an H-bomb

More dangerous than ever?
(Image credit: Getty Images)

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said Thursday his country had developed a hydrogen bomb, and would use it to "defend its sovereignty and the dignity of the nation." If true, it would mark a major step up from less powerful atomic bombs, which the isolated communist nation tested in 2006, 2009 and 2013. South Korean intelligence specialists dismissed the claim, however. "We do not believe that North Korea, which has not succeeded in miniaturizing nuclear bombs, has the technology to produce an H-bomb," Yonhap News Agency quoted an unnamed intelligence official as saying.

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.