BY ANGELA DANIELS
North Korea is bombastically back in the news. Over 24 monitoring stations in North America, Asia and Europe picked up seismic signals which were traced back to the source, almost at the same time as Pyongyang
North Korea’s capital triumphantly sent shock waves through press release, announcing that they have successfully tested their first hydrogen bomb ( H- bomb) North Korea has detonated at least three bombs in the past. Most analysts believe those to be Atomic bombs(A-bombs), not hydrogen.
Whereas, Atomic bombs are powerful enough to have notoriously leveled the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, killing 250, 000 civilians and military personnel, hydrogen bombs release far more powerful energy, using nuclear fusion. So powerful that they need atomic fusion to even kick start the fusion process for the hydrogen bomb. An H- bomb needs an A- bomb just to get it going. This is why the world is terribly agitated by North Korea’s claim.
Whether what North Korea tested was actually an H- bomb is another matter. North Korea has a history of exaggerated claims of its military achievements and might, pointedly directed at South Korea, the United States and Japan. Since the Leader, Kim Jong -Un and his country are the world’s most rebellious and spiteful, there is not a chance in the world they will let anyone near the test site to verify their claim. That country does what she wants, having placed herself on a pinnacle, where little obligation goes to the rest of the world, acting above all international laws.
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North Korea’s cloak of continued, reckless nonchalance, though perceived by observers as merely political, it cannot be underestimated, in real terms. Pyongyang’s recent announcement needs to be followed up. Seismologists are likely to fall back on the only way available to test the claim of an H- bomb – by analysing data collected from a suite of global sensors. According to International treaties of which North Korea is not a signatory – no one is supposed to detonate either the A- bomb or H- bomb, for obvious reasons of world safety. The concern with the rogue country is the potential that they can decide to drop either bomb on another country. What North Korea just declared to have successfully tested is frightening and provocative, but the A- bomb detonated in the past is dangerous enough.
The US military has said it is not surprised strategically by North Korea’s test of a nuclear device. They were expecting they would, but the Pentagon and their Intelligence experts admitted they were caught off guard by the specific timing of the detonation. It was sudden, evidently prepared underground and not detected. Very worrying.
The 24 million strong population of the Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea is a communist state, denying her people of basic rights of free speech, free movement and information; the ruling elite prioritising political survival over everything else, even economy, exposing many to starvation. A brutally repressive political system is deployed to ensure the domination of society. Punishment can be collective, public executions and prison camps.
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Leader, Kim Jong-Un, now 34, took over rulership in 2011 after the death of his father, Kim Jong- li, and like his father and grandfather, has held on to the dreadful system which some political observers feel is unsustainable and will breakdown eventually in the evolving global, political outcry for democracy. He is more isolated than his fore- fathers. Fortunately, over time, numbers of North Koreans have escaped from the country, against the odds. Kim Jong- un called the world to attention when last year, he put his uncle through public execution.
J B Maverick in an Article- ‘2 countries that are friends with North Korea’ (17 August 2015) – wrote about the country’s political isolation. Indeed, the two countries known to be friends with North Korea- guess the first- Russia, and Bulgaria. China, a staunch ally of North Korea since the Second World War, became increasingly disenchanted in the past several years with the relationship. After North Korea’s first missile nuclear test, China issued an official statement that it was ‘resolutely opposed’ to the test and even voted in support of UN sanctions. However, North Korea remains to be an important trading partner. While China has emerged as a growing, virile economy, Maverick describes North Korea as ‘one of the poorest countries in Asia’. North Korea made a political overture towards Japan in 2014, but that was to do with issues between them, relating to abductee families and humanitarian diplomacy. Japan must know better than engage on North Korea’s very muddy waters.
The UN has condemned North Korea’s typically flagrant action and is considering punitive measures. The international community, spearheaded by America has only just recently completed the nuclear deal with Iran after years of sanctions. North Korea has reminded the world it has her as a hard nut to crack. So far, the International community has focused on North Korea’s weapons. There is an apparent hopeless political deadlock rendering the zone as indomitable. UN sanctions do not seem to go far enough. They take too long to pinch adequately. The international community can surely make itself stronger, think of the real people, the citizens whose are helpless and whose lives are being destroyed.
However, there are other nations already in possession of A-bombs although deemed to be responsible therefore unlikely to use them, thank God for that; but see below how many nations are in a position to do at least, another Nagasaki and Hiroshima. America is unlikely to want to be associated with it again; that one time was enough.
According to a new report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) updated 6 January 2015, nations possessing nuclear weapons are as follows: United States (tested, 1945, 1992) Russia( tested 1949, 1990) United Kingdom (tested,1952, 1991) France ( tested 1960, 1996) China(tested 1964, 1996) India(tested, 1974, 1998), Pakistan( tested 1998, 1998) Israel ( not confirmed ) and North Korea( tested 2006, not confirmed ) possess in total 16, 300 nuclear weapons. Russia has the largest estimated stockpile of warheads, 7500. America, 7200. UK 215, France, 260, India, 110 -120, Pakistan, 120-130, North Korea, under 10.
Picture Credit: – “The statues of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il on Mansu Hill in Pyongyang (april 2012)” by J.A. de Roo – Own work.
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