The isolated communist state of North Korea made a terrifying claim Tuesday night: it had successfully tested a nuclear hydrogen bomb.
State-run media in North Korea reported the test and said the new weapon would ward off any threats to the East Asian country. “If there’s no invasion on our sovereignty we will not use nuclear weapon,” the North Korean state news agency declared, according to CNN. “This H-bomb test brings us to a higher level of nuclear power.”
If true North Korea now has the capability to make hydrogen bombs, it would be a significant and more deadly upgrade to the plutonium weapons the nation is reported to have tested in the past. The country first announced it had nuclear weapons in 2003 and has had three confirmed tests prior to the one this week.
The announcement comes after an 5.1 earthquake-like effect was recorded earlier Tuesday in the northern part of the totalitarian state, which was likely caused by the nuclear test.
South Korea has scheduled an emergency security meeting in response to the news of their neighbor possibly having a hydrogen bomb.