North Korea claimed Sunday to have successfully tested a hydrogen bomb capable of being loaded onto an intercontinental ballistic missile, presenting the U.S. and its allies with a new and more potent challenge as global condemnation poured in.
The test of the "two-stage thermonuclear weapon" — the North's sixth atomic blast — was ordered by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and was hailed as a "perfect success."
"The H-bomb test was carried out to examine and confirm the accuracy and credibility of the power control technology and internal structural design newly introduced into manufacturing H-bomb to be placed at the payload of the ICBM," the North's Nuclear Weapons Institute said in a statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency.