North Korea: Answering With Bombs

North Korea’s latest claim of having tested a hydrogen bomb is partly a result of the politics of intimidation practised by the U.S. and South Korea.

- John Cherian

The North Korean government has claimed that it successfully tested a “hydrogen bomb” on January 5. It was the fourth underground nuclear test conducted by North Korea and the first since 2013. Pyongyang used to threaten that it would test a nuclear device more potent than the ones it had tested earlier if political and economic concessions were not forthcoming from the West. The North Korean government has been feeling increasingly threatened with the United States and its allies in the region adopting an ever more militarily bellicose attitude. “This is the self-defensive measure we have to take to defend our right to live in the face of nuclear threats by the United States and to guarantee the security of the Korean peninsula,” said the statement issued by the government in Pyongyang after the latest nuclear test. An announcer on North Korea’s official radio said that the U.S.’ hostile policies made it impossible for the country to give up its nuclear option. The announcer said that “it would be foolish for a hunter to lay down his rifle when he is being pursued by a wolf”.