According to South Korea, DPRK is currently preparing for an ICBM launch amid reports about Pyongyang’s hydrogen bomb testing, local media reported Monday citing sources in the Defense Ministry.
North Korea reportedly said on Sunday that it had successfully tested a hydrogen bomb that could be loaded on an intercontinental ballistic missile. The shockwaves from the test were first registered in China, then in South Korea and Japan, before spreading further out.
The South Korean Environment Ministry has made a decision to conditionally approve the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense systems deployment on the territory of the Asian nation, local media reported Monday.
The ministry is expected to make an official announcement later in the day that would remove the last administrative barrier in the issue of deployment despite the opposition of local environmental activists and residents, the news outlet reported.
The opponents of the deployment consider that the ministry’s research was not credible enough and demand the revision of it, the news agency added.
Hydrogen bombs, also called thermonuclear bombs, use nuclear fusion, which releases far more energy than splitting of the atoms used in atomic bombs.
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Sunday that Tokyo could not rule out the possibility that Pyongyang tested a hydrogen bomb.