International
North Korea said on Sunday it detonated a hydrogen bomb, possibly triggering an artificial earthquake and prompting immediate condemnation from its neighbors -- despite the rogue regime calling the test a "perfect success."
The blast, carried out at 12:29 p.m. local time at the Punggye-ri site, triggered a magnitude 6.3 earthquake in North Korea, the U.S. Geological Survey reported, though officials in Seoul said it was a magnitude 5.7 quake.
Just hours before Sunday's test, photos emerged showing the North Korean dictator inspecting a new thermonuclear warhead in a lab. This would be North Korea's sixth nuclear test and first since September 2016.
The test was estimated to have a yield of 100 kilotons, meaning a blast that was four to five times more powerful than the explosion in Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945, a South Korean defense official told the country's Yonhap News Agency.
Pentagon officials told Fox News early Sunday that the U.S. government would have no official response until after the U.S. fully assesses what happened.
South Korea's presidential office said the security chiefs for Seoul and Washington have spoken. The office said U.S. National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster spoke with his South Korean counterpart, Chung Eui-yong, for 20 minutes in an emergency phone call about an hour after the detonation.
The epicenter was determined to be at a well-known North Korean test site, according to media reports. U.S. intelligence agencies have been closely watching the test site since at least March, when initial signs of test preparations were visible.
U.S. officials at the time told Fox News to expect a nuclear test in the near future. Now, more than five months later, the rogue communist regime appears to have followed through.
In his New Year's address, Kim Jung Un said his nation had entered the "final stage" preparing for the test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). In July, North Korea successfully test-fired two ICBMs.
The U.S. Air Force has WC-135 "sniffer" planes in Japan that will be measuring the air samples near the Korean Peninsula to confirm the presence of radioactive particles in the atmosphere and confirm the nuclear test. The Japanese military also has radiological detection equipment in some of its jets as well.
On Thursday, Defense Secretary James Mattis declined to comment when Fox News asked if the Pentagon was seeing evidence of an upcoming nuclear test in North Korea.
The previous day, before sitting next to his South Korean counterpart, Mattis said "We are not out of diplomatic options."
The quake was detected at 12:36 p.m. in North Korea’s North Hamgyeong province, Yonhap reported, citing information from the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA).
Reuters gave the location as 55 kilometers north northwest of Kimchaek, citing U.S. Geological Survey information. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties, the news agency said.
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had recently said North Korea was showing "restraint" in its recent actions.
"Pyongyang has certainly demonstrated some level of restraint that we’ve not seen in the past," he said at the State Department.
President Trump, at a rally in Phoenix in late August, said North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un was starting to "respect" the United States.
In April, Tillerson told Fox News' Bret Baier that China had asked North Korea not to conduct any more nuclear tests.
“We’re asking a lot of the Chinese,” Tillerson said at the time. “We are going to test China’s willingness to help address this serious threat.”
'Absolutely unacceptable'
Early Sunday, Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe quickly commented that if the quake was indeed a nuclear test by North Korea, it would be "absolutely unacceptable."
The quake came just hours after the regime of leader Kim Jong Un bragged of developing a more advanced nuclear warhead, Britain’s Guardian reported. The epicenter of the quake was estimated to be at 10 kilometers und
The blast, carried out at 12:29 p.m. local time at the Punggye-ri site, triggered a magnitude 6.3 earthquake in North Korea, the U.S. Geological Survey reported, though officials in Seoul said it was a magnitude 5.7 quake.
Just hours before Sunday's test, photos emerged showing the North Korean dictator inspecting a new thermonuclear warhead in a lab. This would be North Korea's sixth nuclear test and first since September 2016.
The test was estimated to have a yield of 100 kilotons, meaning a blast that was four to five times more powerful than the explosion in Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945, a South Korean defense official told the country's Yonhap News Agency.
Pentagon officials told Fox News early Sunday that the U.S. government would have no official response until after the U.S. fully assesses what happened.
South Korea's presidential office said the security chiefs for Seoul and Washington have spoken. The office said U.S. National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster spoke with his South Korean counterpart, Chung Eui-yong, for 20 minutes in an emergency phone call about an hour after the detonation.
The epicenter was determined to be at a well-known North Korean test site, according to media reports. U.S. intelligence agencies have been closely watching the test site since at least March, when initial signs of test preparations were visible.
U.S. officials at the time told Fox News to expect a nuclear test in the near future. Now, more than five months later, the rogue communist regime appears to have followed through.
In his New Year's address, Kim Jung Un said his nation had entered the "final stage" preparing for the test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). In July, North Korea successfully test-fired two ICBMs.
The U.S. Air Force has WC-135 "sniffer" planes in Japan that will be measuring the air samples near the Korean Peninsula to confirm the presence of radioactive particles in the atmosphere and confirm the nuclear test. The Japanese military also has radiological detection equipment in some of its jets as well.
On Thursday, Defense Secretary James Mattis declined to comment when Fox News asked if the Pentagon was seeing evidence of an upcoming nuclear test in North Korea.
The previous day, before sitting next to his South Korean counterpart, Mattis said "We are not out of diplomatic options."
The quake was detected at 12:36 p.m. in North Korea’s North Hamgyeong province, Yonhap reported, citing information from the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA).
Reuters gave the location as 55 kilometers north northwest of Kimchaek, citing U.S. Geological Survey information. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties, the news agency said.
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had recently said North Korea was showing "restraint" in its recent actions.
"Pyongyang has certainly demonstrated some level of restraint that we’ve not seen in the past," he said at the State Department.
President Trump, at a rally in Phoenix in late August, said North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un was starting to "respect" the United States.
In April, Tillerson told Fox News' Bret Baier that China had asked North Korea not to conduct any more nuclear tests.
“We’re asking a lot of the Chinese,” Tillerson said at the time. “We are going to test China’s willingness to help address this serious threat.”
'Absolutely unacceptable'
Early Sunday, Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe quickly commented that if the quake was indeed a nuclear test by North Korea, it would be "absolutely unacceptable."
The quake came just hours after the regime of leader Kim Jong Un bragged of developing a more advanced nuclear warhead, Britain’s Guardian reported. The epicenter of the quake was estimated to be at 10 kilometers und
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