Kim Jong-un has said that North Korea has developed the h-bomb in addition to the nuclear weapons it already has.
His remarks were made shortly after an inspection of a historic site for North Korea’s arms industry, and marks the first time that the North Korean leader has admitted to developing a hydrogen bomb.
Korean Central News Agency reports that it is the first time in history that “a powerful nuclear weapons state [is] ready to detonate a self-reliant A-bomb and H-bomb to reliably defend its sovereignty and the dignity of the nation thanks to tireless efforts by his late grandfather Kim Il-sung, founder of the nation”.
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Yonhapnews.co.kr reports:
“Kim has revealed on a number of occasions that North Korea possesses nuclear bombs. But this appears to be the first time that he talked about an H-bomb,” Chang Yong-seok, a researcher at the Seoul National University Institute for Peace and Unification Studies said.
Lee Chun-geun, research fellow at the Science and Technology Policy Institute, was cautious.
“It’s hard to regard North Korea as possessing an H-bomb. I think it seems to be developing it,” he said.
Meanwhile, the North’s young leader, who is ending his fourth year of ruling, called on the nation to step up efforts to promote the munitions industry.
The Phyongchon Revolutionary Site is intended to commemorate the North’s first munitions factory set up there in 1945 at the instruction of Kim Il-sung.
