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AMERICAN OFFICIALS AND experts today poured cold water on leader Kim Jong-Un’s suggestion that North Korea has developed a hydrogen bomb.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the Obama administration did have concerns about the “destabilising actions” of the regime, but said available information “calls into serious question” claims that the country has a thermonuclear device.
During a recent inspection tour of a historical military site, Kim mentioned that North Korea was already a “powerful nuclear weapons state ready to detonate self-reliant A-bomb and H-bomb to reliably defend its sovereignty.”
North Korea has already tested three atom bombs, which rely on nuclear fission.
A hydrogen, or thermonuclear, device, on the other hand, uses fusion in a chain reaction that results in a far more powerful explosion.
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North Korea has hinted before at the possession of “stronger, more powerful” weapons, but Kim’s remarks were believed to be the first direct reference to an H-bomb.
However, a South Korean intelligence official told the Yonhap news agency Kim’s claim was nothing more than “rhetoric” for domestic consumption.
We don’t have any information that North Korea has developed an H-bomb… and we do not believe that North Korea has the technology to produce an H-bomb.
A North Korean military parade in Pyongyang, in October. Associated Press
Associated Press
In September, however, the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security had raised a red flag over what appeared to be a new “hot cell” facility under construction at the North Korea’s main Yongbyon nuclear complex.
Analysts at the think tank said satellite images suggested it could be an isotope separation facility, capable of producing tritium.
Tritium is a key component in the design of more thermonuclear weapons with far greater yields than those made only of plutonium and uranium.
At the time, the institute observed:
Whether North Korea can make nuclear weapons using tritium is unknown although we believe that it remains a technical problem North Korea still needs to solve. Solving this problem would likely require more underground nuclear tests.
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A huge congratulations to this teacher and her students, what a fantastic way to teach and share.
I’m straight onto Amazon to buy a good few copies of this book to pass around to teachers that
I know. Well done.
Quick follow up, on Amazon the book looks to be only available as a kindle copy. Can someone
let me know if there are any print copies available. Thanks.
I’ve published 7 in total. 3 are self-published. I am always in awe of very young people putting their work out in the world. It is a daunting process with a lot more hard work from many individuals working toward a common goal. It’s fantastic that publishing has evolved to a point this sort of project is possible. Congratulations to all involved.
The state is bound to protect the personal rights of the citizen, and in particular to defend the life, person, good name, and property rights of every citizen.
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