North Korea claims hydrogen bomb test

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspects a device claimed to be a hydrogen bomb

(Image credit: STR/AFP/Getty Images)

last updated 3 September 2017

North Korea claimed Sunday that it has tested a "missile-ready" hydrogen bomb with "perfect success," the last stage in developing a "state nuclear force." The thermonuclear test claim has not been independently verified, nor have outside experts confirmed Pyongyang's past claims to have miniaturized a nuclear weapon for missile transport. However, strong tremors were detected near the area of previous North Korean nuclear tests.

Sunday's announcement was met with broad condemnation, including from North Korea's ally, China, which issued a statement saying Beijing "resolutely opposes" and "strongly condemns" North Korea's actions. South Korea President Moon Jae-in labeled the test "an absurd strategic mistake," and Japan, which believes the test to be authentic, called it "absolutely unacceptable" and a "grave and urgent" threat.

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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.

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