North Korea celebrates ‘hydrogen bomb’ test

The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Tuesday described the test as an indispensable stage on the “normal course,” also taken by other countries to develop a two-stage fission-fusion hydrogen bomb.“The test was neither to threaten anyone, nor to provoke someone for a certain purpose,” the KCNA said.The move was mainly aimed at providing a “sure guarantee” of Pyongyang’s immunity from any assault by hostile forces, including the United States, it added.North Korean technicians and scientists “are in high spirit to detonate H-bombs of hundreds of kilotons and megatons, capable of wiping out the whole territory of the US all at once” if threatened, the news agency said.On January 6, North Korea said it had successfully conducted its first hydrogen bomb test. The country also vowed to continue developing its nuclear program as a means of deterrence against potential acts of aggression from the US.