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: 3, Interesting) by bradley13 on Monday September 04 2017, @06:01AM (14 children)
North Korea is utterly dependent on China. What I don't get is: why does China tolerate this idiot on their border. He's a fruitcake, half-baked at best. Maybe China doesn't care about random tests, but if he nukes Tokyo or (more likely) Seoul - the resulting warfare will hurt China as much as anyone else.
I'm not generally a fan of preemptive military intervention, but if there was ever a good case for destroying someone's nuclear facilities, North Korea is surely the poster child.
Anyone have info on why China tolerates this?
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 04 2017, @06:34AM (4 children)
You probably didn't realize the irony of your post.
The answer to your question is quite obvious. They tolerate this idiot because he has nukes. Same as Mexico and Canada have tolerated the various fruitcakes moving in and out of that tacky faux-classicist white building in Washington DC. Because they have nukes.
The only country to have actually crossed the line of inhumanity and used nukes against humans. The only country that wittingly has brought and will continue to bring the world to the brink of total nuclear annihilation, simply because the narcissistic maniacs in charge consider themselves so exceptional that their strategic political and economic interests weigh more than the lives of eight billion people.
I'm not generally a fan of preemptive military intervention, but if there was ever a good case for destroying someone's nuclear facilities, the USA are surely the poster child.
---
Everybody is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by zocalo on Monday September 04 2017, @07:00AM (2 children)
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
(Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 04 2017, @09:35AM (1 child)
The Chinese do not fear a humanitarian crisis from potential NK refugees. They fear the political and economic fallout from "containing" said refugees.
For context, see the Cultural Revolution and the Great Leap Forward.
China is about as humanitarian as Stalin's USSR. They just manage their economy better.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by zocalo on Monday September 04 2017, @12:58PM
The Chinese might not be all that keen on doing the humanitarian thing, but they don't particularly like being called on it either.
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 04 2017, @09:50AM
against humans. would have been one thing, but this was again civilian targets.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by aliks on Monday September 04 2017, @06:59AM (1 child)
Because its in China's interest.
The US policy is to put a cordon of US friendly countries around any enemy state. South Korea fits the bill.
China wants to weaken the link between S Korea and the US, so letting N Korea have some leeway fits the bill. S Korea gets to see that the US cannot protect Seoul, but China has influence over N Korea and can protect Seoul
Therefore S Korea has to stay friendly with China as a matter of national security.
I hope none of them miscalculate as we are stopping over in Seoul for a few days next year.
Countries don't have friends - they have national interests.
To err is human, to comment divine
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 04 2017, @09:12AM
Who is Bill and why is he so hard to fit? Surely George Zimmer can help.
Wait, Shirley doesn't like George. We're buggered!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 04 2017, @07:32AM
Switzerland. Look it up.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by lx on Monday September 04 2017, @07:51AM
He may be an idiot but he's their idiot.
(Score: 2) by shortscreen on Monday September 04 2017, @08:29AM (1 child)
How do you know he's a fruitcake? The US gov and their media lapdogs said so?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 04 2017, @10:07AM
"lapdogs"? Isn't that an archaic commie agitprop term?
Pro tip: Karl Marx is still dead.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday September 04 2017, @10:11AM
(Score: 2) by tfried on Monday September 04 2017, @12:44PM
Because they know, he's not an idiot (and get along with him ok for that reason).
The situation is simple: Should NK ever attack anybody, the country will be burnt to ashes, and Kim has nowhere to run. NK is not going to do this. So why all their war rhetoric and muscle games, then? Because the only reason for certain parties not to attack NK is that NK is putting up a believable threat that millions and millions will die in SK, Japan, and - possibly - even in the US.
And as much as China is worried about Kim overstretching his game, they are probably quite ok with his general strategy, too - because they don't want that kind of war in their neighborhood.
(Score: 3, Informative) by fritsd on Monday September 04 2017, @04:51PM
Your guess is as good as mine, but I think China tolerates it because they are reluctant to accept 25 million piss-poor, heavily brainwashed refugees.