North Korea's Kim Jong-Un claims country created a hydrogen bomb... With other events shaping the world, is he feeling ignored again?

2015-12-10T14:29:46-05:00

BEIJING — North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un says his country has developed a hydrogen bomb, but senior defense and intelligence officials poured cold water on that claim Thursday in interviews with NBC News.

There is no evidence that North Korea has made such a weapon, they said. And while the communist country has some level of nuclear capability, that does not mean they have succeeded in building a working atomic bomb.

A short time later, the White House also expressed doubts, saying their intelligence "calls into serious question those claims."

The official Korea Central News Agency reported Kim's claims as he toured the Phyongchon Revolutionary Site and touted the feats of his late father Kim Jong Il and grandfather Kim Il Sung.

The work of Kim Il Sung "turned [North Korea] into a powerful nuclear weapons state ready to detonate a self-reliant [atomic] bomb and [hydrogen] bomb to reliably defend its sovereignty and the dignity of the nation," KCNA quoted Kim Jong Un as saying.

Also known as a thermonuclear bomb, a hydrogen bomb produces a much stronger blast than the atomic bombs that leveled Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II.

North Korea carried out tests to set off nuclear devices in 2006, 2009 and 2013, for which it has been subject to United Nations sanctions banning trade and financing activities that aid its weapons program.

Other experts and neighbors also reacted to the North Korean claims with caution.

China's government had seen the report but offered no comment on whether or not it was credible.

"The situation on the Korean peninsula is very delicate, complex and fragile," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Huan Chunying told reporters. "We hope all concerned will make effort that contributes to peace and stability."

China is a close ally of desperately poor and reclusive North Korea.

South Korea's Defense Ministry said they, too, had no intelligence on their neighbor's hydrogen bomb claim.

"We are closely monitoring and tracking any and all of North Korea's nuclear activities," a defense ministry added. "So far, we have not noticed any unusual movements or activities."

North Korea has remained technically at war with South Korea since a 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce. And it has repeatedly threatened to destroy the South, as well as the United States.

Zhang Liangui, a North Korea expert based at the China's Central Party School who once studied at Kim Il Sung University, said he doubted North Korea has the ability to develop a hydrogen bomb.

"They have not even conducted any single test and now they make this claim — there's no way for us to believe it is true," he told NBC News. "Their purpose could be to pressure the international community. Their main aim is to demand the international community to recognize the country as a nuclear state, and to further stress they will not abandon the nuclear weapons."

In April 2014, U.S. intelligence officials told NBC News they believed the North had between a dozen and "a few dozen" missile-deliverable weapons.

The North wants to be accepted as a nuclear weapons state to help it gain stature in negotiations with the U.S. A successful test would — at least in Pyongyang's eyes — bolster that argument, they added.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/north-korea/north-koreas-kim-jong-un-claims-country-has-hydrogen-bomb-n477511

Kim Jong Un Claims North Korea Has Hydrogen Bomb

North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un appears to have claimed his country developed a hydrogen bomb, a significant step up from an atomic one.

Response by SSG Warren Swan made Dec 10 at 2015 2:40 PM

2015-12-10T14:40:38-05:00

And in more important NK News, it was announced that the NK "leader" has threatened to kill his personal trainer for not making him loose enough weight to fit into his custom spandex Batman suit. It was reported that Kim weights approximately 380lbs. 250 of that is all in his head, and the rest in his gut. Breaking News: It's now reported that Kim has kidnapped the COL from KFC and has threatened him with death if he refuses to give the NK Government sole rights to the Secret recipe if 12 different Herbs and Spices..
MSgt, this is as humorous as watching paint dry or watching male beach volleyball. Welcome to the 19th century North Korea.

Response by SSG Todd Halverson made Dec 10 at 2015 2:42 PM

2015-12-10T14:42:55-05:00

He just wants to be in the news and feed his ego.

Response by SGT Patrick Reno made Dec 10 at 2015 2:47 PM

2015-12-10T14:47:20-05:00

It is time for our fat little friend in North Korea to try and get back into the spotlite again. Only other thing he could do is to convert the whole country to Islam.

Response by CSM David Heidke made Dec 10 at 2015 2:53 PM

2015-12-10T14:53:34-05:00

That guy will be lucky if his own people don't kill and eat him.

Response by SGT David T. made Dec 10 at 2015 2:55 PM

2015-12-10T14:55:02-05:00

So what? How many do we have? lol

Response by MSG Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 10 at 2015 3:07 PM

2015-12-10T15:07:38-05:00

Have you ever been to a dinner party and one of the kids at the kiddie table keeps screaming for attention?

Response by MAJ Ken Landgren made Dec 10 at 2015 3:49 PM

2015-12-10T15:49:19-05:00

I think he is the only fat North Korean.

Response by SN Greg Wright made Dec 10 at 2015 3:54 PM

2015-12-10T15:54:51-05:00

MSgt Curtis Ellis Aww. Fat Boy Leader IS feeling ignored.

Even if it's true (I'm sure it's not), so what? A conventional nuke takes out a small city. A hydrogen nuke takes out a larger city. Both are bad. I don't see how that would change the game any. In any case, he doesn't have a delivery system that'll get him any further than Japan, and his TRUE masters, China, would never let him do it, anyways.

Response by PO3 Brad Phlipot made Dec 10 at 2015 5:48 PM

2015-12-10T17:48:42-05:00

Did he mention that it is the size of a truck? Kim is having trouble making them in payload carrying size and the shit end of the stick is for some reason the rockets keep blowing up? (Snickering) We have great toys.

Response by SPC Byron Skinner made Dec 11 at 2015 5:15 PM

2015-12-11T17:15:30-05:00

Sp4 Byron Skinner. So far the rogue state has claimed to have conducted three nuclear test, unfortunately none have been verified. The first one tripped a sensor on a P3 coming and going but nothing the next day with the sensor replaced. The other two test didn't even have that level of verification. As President G.W. Bush would say: "Bring it On".

Response by SSG Edward Tilton made Oct 14 at 2017 8:06 PM

2017-10-14T20:06:15-04:00

A Hydrogen Bomb requires an Atomic explosion to ignite it. We had the technology to spot one in the 1970's.