Kim Jong-un says North Korea has a hydrogen bomb

Greg P. | 7:29 AM on December 10, 2015

Ha! That’s pretty much what we just did. The rotund dictator is in the news this morning over his alleged and unsubstantiated claim that North Korea has developed a hydrogen bomb:

North Korea's Kim Jong-un may have mentioned the hydrogen bomb during an arms industry inspection: https://t.co/Vlw8NpE888

— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) December 10, 2015

#NorthKorea has developed Hydrogen bombs, Kim Jong-Un confirms https://t.co/q5gERonqws pic.twitter.com/1HDYBHdj8i

— IRIA (@IRIA_Research) December 10, 2015

From South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency, which is quoting North Korean state media:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un stated that his country has developed not only nuclear weapons but also hydrogen bombs, according to Pyongyang’s state media Thursday.

He made the remark while inspecting a historic site for the communist nation’s arms industry a day earlier, according to reports.

The North has been turned into a “powerful nuclear weapons state 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, the Korean Central News Agency said in a report on Kim’s “field guidance” at the Phyongchon Revolutionary Site in Pyongyang.

“I think it’s unlikely that they have an H-bomb at the moment, but I don’t expect them to keep testing basic devices indefinitely, either,” said Jeffrey Lewis of the California-based Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey.

It was possible the North was referring to the technology of boosting the yield of a nuclear device, possibly using fusion fuel, Lewis said.

North Korea claimed in 2010 that it had successfully developed fusion technology.

Here’s hoping he’s right.

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