Kim Jong un says N Korea has hydrogen bomb, but world sceptical

SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong un appeared on Thursday to claim the country has developed a hydrogen bomb, a step up from the less powerful atomic bomb, but outside experts were sceptical about his claim. Kim made the comments as he toured the Phyongchon Revolutionary Site, which marks the feats of his father who died in 2011 and his grandfather, state founder and eternal president, Kim Il sung, the official KCNA news agency said. The work of Kim Il sung "turned the DPRK into a powerful nuclear weapons state ready to detonate a self-reliant A-bomb and H-bomb to reliably defend its sovereignty and the dignity of the nation," KCNA quoted Kim Jong un as saying. A hydrogen bomb, also known as a thermonuclear bomb, uses more advanced technology to produce a significantly more powerful blast than an atomic bomb. North Korea conducted underground tests to set off nuclear devices in 2006, 2009 and 2013, for which it has been subject to UN security council sanctions banning trade and financing activities that aid its weapons programme. An official at South Korea's intelligence agency told Yonhap news agency that there was no evidence that the North had hydrogen bomb capacity, and believed Kim was speaking rhetorically. Despite the underground tests, the North has been seen as short of achieving the capability to put a nuclear warhead on a missile. If the hydrogen bomb claim is true, it would indicate advances in the North's pursuit of nuclear weapons. -TOI