Condemnation, doubt greet N. Korea’s H-bomb declaration

Associated Press

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA

North Korea’s declaration that it had tested a hydrogen bomb for the first time was greeted with widespread condemnation – but also skepticism – as world powers vowed Wednesday to punish the impoverished and defiant nation with new international sanctions.

The isolated country’s fourth nuclear test since 2006 was a “reckless challenge to international norms of behavior and the authority of the U.N. Security Council,” said British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft.

The council met in an emergency session and called the test “a clear violation” of its resolutions. It agreed to start work immediately on a resolution for new sanctions.

The international community must respond with “steadily increasing pressure” and rigorous enforcement of existing measures, said U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power.

Four rounds of U.N. sanctions have aimed at reining in the North’s nuclear and missile development, but Pyongyang has ignored them and moved ahead with programs to modernize its ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons.

The last sanctions resolution in 2013 was co-sponsored by the U.S. and China, and both countries will be key to an agreement on a new one. Whether any new sanctions can slow North Korea’s nuclear program, however, remains to be seen.

There was a burst of jubilation and pride in North Korea’s capital of Pyongyang, where a TV anchor said Wednesday’s test of a “miniaturized” hydrogen bomb had been a “perfect success” that elevated the country’s “nuclear might to the next level.”

A successful test would mark a major and unanticipated advance for the North’s still-limited nuclear arsenal and push its scientists and engineers closer to their goal of building a warhead small enough to place on a missile that can reach the U.S. mainland.

But an early analysis by the U.S. government was “not consistent with the claims that the regime has made of a successful hydrogen bomb test,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.

He added that nothing has happened in the last 24 hours to change Washington’s assessment of Pyongyang’s technical or military capabilities. The U.S. is still doing the work needed to learn more about the North’s test, he added.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, a former South Korean foreign minister, called North Korea’s action “profoundly destabilizing for regional security,” and he demanded that Pyongyang halt any further nuclear activities.