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North Korea claims it’s tested a hydrogen bomb
SEOUL — North Korea said it staged its first test of a more powerful form of nuclear weapon, which expands the U.S.’s foreign policy challenges and highlights the limits of China’s ability to rein in its volatile ally.
An announcer on North Korean state television said in a midday broadcast that scientists had successfully detonated a hydrogen bomb at around 10 a.m. local time.
The U.S. Geological Survey reported that a magnitude 5.1 earthquake was triggered at that time near North Korea’s nuclear test site in the northeast of the country.
North Korea has staged three test detonations of atomic bombs; the latest was in 2013. A hydrogen bomb is more powerful and uses nuclear fusion to trigger an uncontrolled chain reaction.
Experts have said it is unclear whether North Korea had developed the ability to build a hydrogen bomb. The magnitude of the latest explosion was the same as a 2013 test of an atomic bomb.
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