Quote:
Originally Posted by Semblance_of_Power
I think that short of NK nuking another country (which I don't think they can do yet? I think they lack the delivery system)
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This test suggests that the delivery system is pretty far along. Now it appears the
size of the warhead is the sticking point.
Quote:
After its 2013 test and again in 2015, North Korea claimed it had "miniaturised" a device, or made a device small enough to fit a nuclear warhead onto a missile - which the US cast doubt on.
Pyongyang also said the 2013 test had a much greater yield than the devices detonated in previous tests. It was indeed larger in force than previous ones, but monitors failed to detect radioactive isotopes - a key indicator - so uncertainty remains.
Claims of an underground test of a hydrogen bomb in January 2016 were met with plenty of scepticism.
Initial estimates put the blast in the 10 to 15 kiloton range, whereas a full thermonuclear blast would be closer to 100 kilotons.
North Korea again claimed this was a successful test of a miniaturised device, and again it has not been verified.
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For a more technical discussion, see
this.