The announcement Wednesday from North Korea that it had carried out a nuclear test brought to the front lines of global attention a phrase not often heard since the Cold War — “the H-bomb.”
In this image made from video from KRT, the North Korean state broadcaster, a North Korean woman speaks during a broadcast aired on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016. North Korea says it has conducted a hydrogen bomb test. The surprise announcement that complicates already difficult efforts to curb the country’s push for a working nuclear arsenal. (KRT via AP Video)
In this image made from video from KRT, North Korean state broadcaster, a North Korean man speaks during a broadcast aired on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016. North Korea says it has conducted a hydrogen bomb test. The surprise announcement that complicates already difficult efforts to curb the country’s push for a working nuclear arsenal. (KRT via AP Video)
As opposed to the atomic bomb, the kind dropped on Japan in the closing days of World War II, the hydrogen bomb, or so-called “superbomb” can be far more powerful — experts say, by 1,000 times or more.
North Korea’s first three nuclear tests, from 2006 to 2013, were A-bombs on roughly the same scale as the ones used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which together killed more than 200,000 people. Pyongyang announced Wednesday that it had detonated its first H-bomb; while seismic data supported the claim of a large explosion, there was no immediate way to confirm the type.
Smoke rises 20,000 feet above Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945 after the first atomic bomb was dropped during warfare. (AP Photo)
Thousands of North Koreans turn colored cards to form the symbol for the atom as gymnasts perform on the field below during a “mass games” performance at a stadium in Pyongyang, North Korea Friday, Sept. 19, 2008. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)
In this Sunday, April 15, 2012 file photo, a North Korean vehicle carries a missile during a mass military parade in Pyongyang’s Kim Il Sung Square to celebrate the centenary of the birth of the late North Korean founder Kim Il Sung. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)
Atomic bombs rely on fission, or atom-splitting, just as nuclear power plants do. The hydrogen bomb, also called the thermonuclear bomb, uses fusion, or atomic nuclei coming together, to produce explosive energy. Stars also produce energy through fusion.
“Think what’s going on inside the sun,” says Takao Takahara, professor of international politics and peace research at Meiji Gakuin University in Tokyo. “In theory, the process is potentially infinite. The amount of energy is huge.”
The technology of the hydrogen bomb is more sophisticated, and once attained, it is a greater threat. They can be made small enough to fit on a head of an intercontinental missile.
A screen at the General Satellite Control and Command Center shows the moment North Korea’s Unha-3 rocket is launched in Pyongyang, North Korea, Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012. (AP Photo)
“That the bomb can become compact is the characteristic, and so this means North Korea has the U.S. in mind in making this H-bomb announcement,” says Tatsujiro Suzuki, professor at the Research Center for Nuclear Weapons Abolition at Nagasaki University.
But the H-bomb requires more technology in control and accuracy because of the greater amount of energy involved, he said. Both the A-bomb and H-bomb use radioactive material like uranium and plutonium for the explosive material.
The hydrogen bomb is in fact already the global standard for the five nations with the greatest nuclear capabilities: the U.S., Russia, France, the U.K. and China. Other nations may also either have it or may be working on it, despite a worldwide effort to contain such proliferation.
The hydrogen bomb was never dropped on any targets. It was first successfully tested in the 1950s by the U.S., in bombs called Mike and Bravo. Soviet tests soon followed.
This May 21, 1956, file photo shows the H-Bomb “Cherokee” over Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands. The announcement Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016, from North Korea that it had carried out a nuclear test brought to the front lines of global attention a phrase not often heard since the Cold War, “the H-bomb.” (AP Photo)
The skyline, top, at Bikini Atoll in the Pacific is a study in black and white with the airplane-dropped H-bomb silhouettes clouds on Monday, May 21, 1956 (Bikini Atoll time). Below, in another picture taken about 50 miles from the target, the cloud forms the shape of a man-made sun. (AP Photo)
The fireball of hydrogen bomb lights the Pacific sky a few seconds after the bomb was released over Bikini Atoll on May 21, 1956 (Bikini Atoll time). Streamers at right are trails of rockets fired just before the blast for testing purposes. (AP Photo)
The crew of a Japanese fishing boat that unknowingly went into the waters near the nuclear testing of Bravo got acute radiation sickness. Since the 1960s, nuclear tests have gone underground to reduce radioactive fallout.
Terumi Tanaka, head of Nihon Hidankyo, or the Japan Federation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, has been working to ban nuclear weapons for years and was stunned by reports of the H-bomb test.
“It defies hopes for progress,” he said. “I am outraged.”
A North Korean national flag flutters in the wind near trees at its embassy in Beijing, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016. North Korea said it conducted a powerful hydrogen bomb test Wednesday, a defiant and surprising move that, if confirmed, would be a huge jump in Pyongyang’s quest to improve its still-limited nuclear arsenal. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
South Korean Foreign Ministry officials attend an emergency meeting as a TV news program showing North Korea’s announcement at the ministry in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016. North Korea said Wednesday it had conducted a hydrogen bomb test, a defiant and surprising move that, if confirmed, would put Pyongyang a big step closer toward improving its still-limited nuclear arsenal. The headline of the TV says ” (North Korea) has become hydrogen bomb holding country.” (Kim Ju-sung/Yonhap via AP)
Officers from the Korea Meteorological Administration point at the epicenter of seismic waves in North Korea, at the National Earthquake and Volcano Center of the Korea Meteorological Administration in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016. North Korea said it conducted a powerful hydrogen bomb test Wednesday, a defiant and surprising move that, if confirmed, would be a huge jump in Pyongyang’s quest to improve its still-limited nuclear arsenal. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying speaks during a briefing at the Chinese Foreign Ministry in Beijing, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016. North Korea’s main ally China said it “firmly opposes” Pyongyang’s purported hydrogen bomb test and is monitoring the environment along its border with the North near the test site. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
In this Oct. 10, 2015, file photo, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, right, joins hands and waves with visiting Chinese official Liu Yunshan, the Communist Party’s fifth-ranking leader, during a parade in Pyongyang, North Korea. China sees North Korea’s claim to have conducted its first hydrogen bomb test on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016, as yet another act of defiance, boding ill for a relationship already under strain. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
People walk by a screen showing the news reporting about an earthquake near North Korea’s nuclear facility, in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016. South Korean officials detected an “artificial earthquake” near North Korea’s main nuclear test site Wednesday, a strong indication that nuclear-armed Pyongyang had conducted its fourth atomic test. North Korea said it planned an “important announcement” later Wednesday. The letter read “5.1 Earthquake near North Korea’s nuclear facility.” (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
A driver is silhouetted as a Chinese paramilitary policeman stands guard outside the North Korean Embassy in Beijing, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016. North Korea said it conducted a powerful hydrogen bomb test Wednesday, a defiant and surprising move that, if confirmed, would be a huge jump in Pyongyang’s quest to improve its still-limited nuclear arsenal. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
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