Let’s begin 2016 with thrilling sound: Kim Jong-Un wrote about N-test | World News - Hindustan Times
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Let’s begin 2016 with thrilling sound: Kim Jong-Un wrote about N-test

Jan 06, 2016 04:53 PM IST

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un personally signed the order three weeks ago authorising Pyongyang’s latest nuclear test, calling for 2016 to kick off with the “thrilling sound” of a hydrogen bomb explosion.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un personally signed the order three weeks ago authorising Pyongyang’s latest nuclear test, calling for 2016 to kick off with the “thrilling sound” of a hydrogen bomb explosion.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un watches the test-fire of a strategic submarine underwater ballistic missile (not pictured), in this undated file photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang on May 9, 2015.(REUTERS)
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un watches the test-fire of a strategic submarine underwater ballistic missile (not pictured), in this undated file photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang on May 9, 2015.(REUTERS)

The North said Wednesday it had conducted its first “successful” miniaturised hydrogen bomb test -- a shock announcement that drew condemnation from its neighbours including its major ally China.

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The news was broadcast on state television, which also showed a copy of Kim’s initial signed order dated December 15.

Read : H-bomb: 1000 times powerful than Hiroshima bomb, fits on missile

Graphic comparing estimated size of nuclear tests, including Wednesday's claimed hydrogen bomb detonation by North Korea. (AFP)
Graphic comparing estimated size of nuclear tests, including Wednesday's claimed hydrogen bomb detonation by North Korea. (AFP)

“Let’s begin the year of 2016 ... with the thrilling sound of our first hydrogen bomb explosion, so that the whole world will look up to our socialist, nuclear-armed republic and the great Workers’ Party of Korea!” Kim wrote in a handwritten message next to his signature.

Read | The five weirdest facts about North Korea and its leader

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visits a Mushroom Farm in this undated file photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang. (REUTERS)
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visits a Mushroom Farm in this undated file photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang. (REUTERS)

The television also showed a second order dated January 3 in which Kim signed off his final approval for the test to be conducted on January 6.

|Kim, who took over after the death of his father Kim Jong-Il in December 2011, also presided over the country’s third nuclear test in February 2013.

A hydrogen, or thermonuclear, bomb uses fusion in a chain reaction that results in a far more powerful explosion than the fission blast generated by uranium or plutonium alone.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un looks through a pair of binoculars during an inspection of the Hwa Islet Defence Detachment standing guard over a forward post off the east coast of the Korean peninsula. (REUTERS)
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un looks through a pair of binoculars during an inspection of the Hwa Islet Defence Detachment standing guard over a forward post off the east coast of the Korean peninsula. (REUTERS)

Read | ‘Add North Korea to your 2016 fear list’: Twitter reacts to H-Bomb test

North Korea was believed to be years from developing such a sophisticated device, and experts voiced scepticism that Wednesday’s test was indeed of a hydrogen bomb -- saying the apparent yield was far too low.

Kim had suggested last month Pyongyang had already developed such an H-bomb -- a claim that was largely dismissed as exaggerated rhetoric at the time.

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