We had three Soylentils submit stories about North Korea's claims it had detonated a hydrogen bomb and reports of seismic activity.
North Korea said on Sunday it detonated a hydrogen bomb, possibly triggering an artificial earthquake and prompting immediate condemnation from its neighbors -- despite the rogue regime calling the test a "perfect success." http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/09/03/quake-in-north-korea-may-have-been-nuclear-test.html
North Korea claims to have successfully developed and tested a hydrogen bomb. Observers have detected tremors associated with a blast several times larger than previous underground nuclear bomb tests. North Korea also claimed to have developed a hydrogen bomb capable of being fitted on a missile:
North Korea carried out its most powerful nuclear test to date on Sunday, claiming to have developed an advanced hydrogen bomb that could sit atop an intercontinental ballistic missile.
The bomb used in the country's sixth-ever nuclear test sent tremors across the region that were 10 times more powerful than Pyongyang's previous test a year ago, Japanese officials said. While the type of bomb used and its size have not been independently verified, if true, the pariah state is a significant step closer to being able to fire a nuclear warhead to the US mainland, as it has repeatedly threatened it could if provoked.
[...] The device was more than eight times more powerful than the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945, according to NORSAR, a Norway-based group that monitors nuclear tests. Based on the tremors that followed the test, NORSAR estimated it had an explosive yield of 120 kilotons. Hiroshima's had 15 kilotons. But South Korean officials gave a more modest estimation, saying that Sunday's bomb had a yield of 50 kilotons.
がんばれ! 你能行的!! 화이팅!!!
Also at BBC, Reuters, and NYT.
Earthquake News Today initially reported that a 5.1 magnitude event designated 2000aert had occurred near Sungjibaegam, North Korea at a depth of less than 1km at 03:30 UTC September 3.
Their updated report 2.5 hours later gave a magnitude of 4.1.
All reporting stations were in the USA.
NPR, formerly Nation Public Radio, subsequently reports
North Korea has claimed to have tested a hydrogen bomb
The blast was picked up by seismic stations all over the world, and it was big.
[...]North Korea's previous nuclear tests have been in the tens of kilotons range. That corresponds roughly to a weapon the size of the ones used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II. It's believed that the North's earlier tests were of nuclear weapons that use uranium or plutonium (or both) for their explosive yield.
This time, the North claims to have mastered a far more powerful hydrogen weapon. Some early estimates are putting this test in the hundreds of kiloton range.
[...]Modern nuclear weapons of the sort possessed by the U.S. and Russia are almost all thermonuclear in nature. It allows the weapons to pack a huge punch while fitting in a warhead small enough to be delivered by a missile.
Original Submission #1 Original Submission #2 Original Submission #3
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 04 2017, @06:30AM (5 children)
Somehow, this whole thing strikes me as a kid in the neighborhood playing with guns.
Now, I am against laws forbidding gun ownership as a lot of people are, and believe he should do as he pleases in his own house.
I am well aware of the ability to defend oneself minimizes one'e probability of becoming a victim.
But, now he's sticking his gun out the window and making mock potshots at me, giving me hints he is preparing to damage me or my property, which I am taking a a veiled threat.
As we speak, I am talking to the neighbors about it.
I'd much rather the kid's dad handle it. But apparently, dad's not home.
I believe we are preparing to go in and take that kid's toys away if he can't play around with them responsibly.
(Score: 2) by coolgopher on Monday September 04 2017, @06:57AM
I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit.
It's the only way to be sure.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 04 2017, @07:27AM (1 child)
Which flavour is your Kool-Aid, Oxycontin or Tetraethyl Lead?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 04 2017, @07:37AM
Oxy-rub.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 04 2017, @08:25AM
It's a sad state of affairs that I'm only ~70ish% certain which big fat boy in charge of dangerous toys you're talking about, and the percentage is that high only because of context :/
We're doomed.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 05 2017, @02:37AM
Hmm, let's see. Brazil. Russia. India. China. South Africa. Don't see an N.K. in there. Should work out.