North Korean leader Kim Jong-un oversees a rocket-launching drill in 2014. Photograph: Reuters
Anna Fifield, The Washington Post: Why Is North Korea's Hydrogen Bomb Test Such A Big Deal?
North Korea's claim Wednesday that it had tested a hydrogen bomb alarmed Pyongyang's Asian neighbors -- and the rest of the world. We take a look at what's behind this new North Korean claim.
Is this a big deal? We already knew they had nukes, right?
It's a big deal because a hydrogen, or thermonuclear, bomb is much, much more powerful.
The "Little Boy" atomic bomb that the United States dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima in 1945 had a yield of 15 kilotons, while the "Fat Man" dropped on Nagasaki a few days later had a yield of 20 kilotons. By comparison, the dry fuel hydrogen bomb that the U.S. tested at Bikini Atoll in 1954 had a yield of 15 megatons - making it more than 1,000 times as powerful as the Hiroshima bomb.
Here's how Kim Du-yeon of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace explains it:
Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials On North Korea's Nuclear Test
'A grave threat': why North Korea's claimed nuclear test is a cause for concern -- Justin McCurry and Tom Phillips, The Guardian
North Korea Bomb Test Thrusts It Back Into World Spotlight -- WSJ
N. Korea's imprudence -- Korea Times editorial
North Korea Hydrogen-Bomb Test Would Signal Dangerous New Phase -- Jeremy Page, WSJ
Pride and power: North Korea nuke test plays to local as well as global audience -- James Pearson, Reuters
North Korea Blast Revives Question: How Do You Contain Pyongyang? -- NYT
North Korea won't surrender its nuclear weapons – sanctions or no sanctions -- Andrei Lankov, The Guardian
North Korea’s Claim of a Hydrogen Bomb Test -- Matt Ford and Krishnadev Calamur, The Atlantic
So Did North Korea Detonate a Hydrogen Bomb or Not? -- Joshua Keating, Slate
The Political Fallout From North Korea’s ‘Hydrogen Bomb’ Test -- Hannah Beech, Time
China will have to thwart Kim's plans -- Alexander Freund, DW
North Korea nuclear test a "wake-up call" for the world -- James Pearson, Rweuters
Analysis: Calculated Risk Behind N. Korean H-Bomb Test Claim -- AP
North Korea’s Steady Quest for a Bigger Mushroom Cloud -- Mark Thompson, Time
What North Korea’s ‘hydrogen bomb’ means for Asia and the world -- Happymon Jacob, Hindustan Times
North Korea nuclear test: why did Kim Jong-un press the button now? -- Simon Tisdall, The Guardian
Analysis: a cloud hangs over North Korea — but what’s new? -- The Times
The 5 Stages of Reacting to a North Korea Nuke Test -- Josh Rogin, Bloomberg
Nuclear test shows limits of international response -- The Telegraph
How North Korea's nuclear program went from threats to reality -- James Griffiths, CNN
Nuclear Weapons on the Rise Again' - Watchdog on N Korea's Bomb Test -- Sputnik
North Korea nuclear bomb test: 7 key questions answered -- Holly Yan, CNN
North Korea's Hydrogen Bomb Proclamation: 5 Things to Know -- NBC
Timeline: North Korea’s nuclear weapons development -- The Guardian
North Korea 'H-bomb test': What do we know? -- BBC
