North Korea Ramps up International Rancor with H-Bomb Threat

Experts warn of potentially dire consequences if Kim Jong Un detonates a hydrogen bomb over the Pacific Ocean

North Korea’s latest threat—to detonate a hydrogen bomb over the Pacific Ocean—if carried through would mark a new level of defiance in the face of warnings from the U.S. and the international community.

Pyongyang has notched milestone after milestone this year in its quest to develop a nuclear-tipped missile capable of striking the continental U.S., each time causing a furor and inviting toughly worded responses from President Donald Trump.

In the past month, Pyongyang has launched two missiles over Japan and tested its sixth and most powerful nuclear device, which it described as a hydrogen bomb. That follows the first two successful test-launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles in July.

“Perhaps we might consider a historic aboveground test of a hydrogen bomb over the Pacific Ocean,” North Korean foreign minister Ri Yong Ho told reporters in New York, in remarks broadcast on a South Korean news channel. He added that he didn’t know for sure what North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was planning.

The latest threat marks an unprecedented escalation by North Korea in the standoff over its weapons program, according to security scholars and regime watchers, who warned of potentially dire consequences.

“If such a test occurred without warning, planes could fall from the sky as their electronics fail. Even satellites in low-Earth orbit could be affected. The environmental effects on the ocean and its fishing resources would also be serious,” said Morris Jones, a space analyst, writing for Australia’s Lowy Institute for International Policy.

Russia and Germany expressed deep concern Friday over the escalation of tensions around the Korean Peninsula and called for a diplomatic solution.

“We are deeply disturbed in Moscow over the escalation of tensions on the Korean Peninsula tied with the exchange of sufficiently rude and threatening statements,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Russian news agencies reported.

“Moscow is calling on all interested sides to restrain themselves so as to not provoke escalation further,” Mr. Peskov said.

Steffen Seibert, spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel, also condemned North Korea’s latest threat.

“The [international] community of states has already agreed in the ’60s not to carry out any more atmospheric nuclear tests,” Mr. Seibert said Friday. “If this previously existing unity would be now broken, this would be a new outrageous escalation of North Korea’s already irresponsible approach. We are calling on North Korea to immediately stop such provocations. “

Mr. Seibert reiterated Germany’s view that the crisis can only be resolved diplomatically, saying: “Anything else leads to misery.”

“Moscow is calling on all interested sides to restrain themselves so as to not provoke escalation further,” Mr. Peskov said.

Steffen Seibert, spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel, also condemned North Korea’s latest threat.

“The [international] community of states has already agreed in the ’60s not to carry out any more atmospheric nuclear tests,” Mr. Seibert said Friday. “If this previously existing unity would be now broken, this would be a new outrageous escalation of North Korea’s already irresponsible approach. We are calling on North Korea to immediately stop such provocations. “

Mr. Seibert reiterated Germany’s view that the crisis can only be resolved diplomatically, saying: “Anything else leads to misery.”

While the North has proven its ability to conduct a nuclear blast with many times the explosive power of the bombs that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and to successfully launch a long-range missile capable of reaching deep into the continental U.S., it has yet to marry those two technologies.

The threat to detonate a nuclear weapon over the Pacific suggests the North is prepared to cross that threshold, though experts say it isn’t clear if Pyongyang would succeed—or if the U.S. would try to shoot down such a missile.

Indeed, the threat was so extreme that some security experts doubted Pyongyang would go through with it. An atmospheric nuclear detonation would be the first since China’s test of a hydrogen bomb on Oct. 16, 1980. All six of North Korea’s nuclear tests have been underground, the first in 2006 and the most recent on Sept. 3 this year.