News / Koreas

North Korea bomb test neither threat nor provocation: KCNA

Tuesday, 12 January 2016 10:55 AM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 12 January 2016 10:56 AM ]

This photo shows North Korean people celebrating a hydrogen bomb test in Pyongyang on Jan. 6, 2016. ©AFP

North Korea’s recent hydrogen bomb test was not intended to be a provocation or threat, but rather to defuse any attack by hostile powers, the state news agency says.

The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Tuesday described the test as an indispensable stage on the “normal course,” also taken by other countries to develop a two-stage fission-fusion hydrogen bomb.

“The test was neither to threaten anyone, nor to provoke someone for a certain purpose,” the KCNA said.

The move was mainly aimed at providing a “sure guarantee” of Pyongyang’s immunity from any assault by hostile forces, including the United States, it added.

North Korean technicians and scientists “are in high spirit to detonate H-bombs of hundreds of kilotons and megatons, capable of wiping out the whole territory of the US all at once” if threatened, the news agency said.

On January 6, North Korea said it had successfully conducted its first hydrogen bomb test. The country also vowed to continue developing its nuclear program as a means of deterrence against potential acts of aggression from the US.

A South Korean soldier stands near the loudspeakers close to the border area with the North in Yeoncheon, South Korea, January 8, 2016. ©AP

The test prompted neighboring South Korea to resume its propaganda broadcasts along the border with the North.

North Korea declared itself a nuclear power in 2005 and carried out several nuclear weapon tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013.

Pyongyang is under UN sanctions over launching missiles considered by the US and South Korea as ballistic and aimed at delivering nuclear warheads.

North Korea says it is boosting defense capabilities in the face of enemy threats. The country is irked by joint military maneuvers by South Korea and the US and views them as direct threats against its security.

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