Hydrogen bomb



North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is no longer being depicted by the White House as the insane leader of a rogue state. Here, he is addressing the central committee of the ruling Workers’ Party in Pyongyang [North Korean Central News Agency]
All eyes are on the Korean Peninsula this week as the leaders of the North and South prepare for a historic summit which comes after years of tensions and war rhetoric.
The summit is the third such meeting of Korean heads of state in the past 65 years.

File photo of US President Donald Trump with Chinese President Xi Jinping [Xinhua]
Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted his US counterpart Donald Trump at the Palace Museum within the Forbidden City, a historic site at the heart of the capital Beijing on Wednesday.
The two presidents, who have at times been at odds over how to deal with North Korea, met for tea at the Hall of the Embodied Treasures in the Museum with both first ladies in attendance.
Chinese news media showed Xi giving Trump and the first ladies a tour of the other main halls in the museum.

Putin does not agree with Trump’s threats against North Korea, and says such vitriol will add to tensions in the region [PPIO]
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree this week to enforce United Nations Security Council resolutions on North Korea.
In line with the UNSC resolutions, Putin ordered that increased restrictions be applied to North Korea in the trade, financial, and scientific sectors even though Russia has no existing economic ties to the country.
The UNSC passed Resolution 2371 on August 5 in response to Pyongyang testing two ballistic missiles.

The leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong Un (front) has vowed to speed up the nuclear and ballistic missile programs [Xinhua]
Despite the threat of all-out war with the US and its allies in the Pacific and the weight of new UN sanctions, North Korea is to push ahead with full-scale development of its nuclear and missile technologies.
During the Second Plenum of the 7th Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea held on Saturday, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said that military development was a key defensive strategy against the US.

North Korea carried out its sixth nuclear test, claiming it was a hydrogen-based bomb. The resulting 6.3 earthquake reportedly shook buildings in China and Russia. President Trump responded with a new round of threats. [...]

Calls for restraint and diplomacy emerged on Sunday after North Korea claimed to have successfully tested a hydrogen bomb capable being placed on an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
A statement released from North Korea’s Nuclear Weapons Institute says Pyongyang conducted the test with “perfect success” at noon local time Sunday, and purportedly showed that the country’s nuclear weapons’ power and technology were “in consideration of the targets and purposes.”

North Korean media has declared a successful test of a hydrogen bomb, a few short hours after announcing that the country’s military possess such a weapon which can be loaded atop the DPRK’s existing missile systems.

North Korea has announced that is has developed a functional advanced hydrogen bomb, the most powerful variety of nuclear weapon, which can be fitted atop North Korea’s existing arsenal of intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Photos have been released of North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-Un inspecting the components of the weapon.

It’s two and a half minutes to midnight.