January 2016 North Korean nuclear test

January 2016 North Korea nuclear test
January 2016 North Korea nuclear test
Information
Country	North Korea
Test site	41°18′29″N 129°02′56″E / 41.308°N 129.049°E, Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site, Kilju County
Period	10:00:01, 6 January 2016 UTC+08:30 (01:30:01 UTC)
Number of tests	1
Test type	Underground
Device type	Hydrogen according to the DPRK, fission according to the South Korean National Intelligence Service
Max. yield	Not announced by DPRK; Estimated at least 7 kilotons of TNT (29 TJ) similar to the 2013 test due to the same magnitude scale as the previous test.; 10 kilotons of TNT (42 TJ) (Estimation from Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources) – which was revised from initial estimates of 14 kilotons of TNT (59 TJ); 7.1–15.5 kilotons of TNT (30–65 TJ) kt University of Science and Technology of China;
Test chronology
	← 2013 test September 2016 test →

2km
1.2miles

South

West

East

North portal

6

5

4

3

2

1

Location of North Korea's nuclear tests^[5]^[6]
1: 2006; 2: 2009; 3: 2013; 4: 2016-01; 5: 2016-09; 6: 2017;

V

North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear detonation on 6 January 2016 at 10:00:01 UTC+08:30. At the Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site, approximately 50 kilometres (30 miles) northwest of Kilju City in Kilju County, an underground nuclear test was carried out. The United States Geological Survey reported a 5.1 magnitude earthquake from the location;^[7] the China Earthquake Networks Center reported the magnitude as 4.9.

North Korean media announced that the country had successfully tested a hydrogen bomb in ″self-defence against US″.^[8] However, third-party experts as well as officials and agencies in South Korea questioned North Korea's claims and contend that the device was more likely to have been a fission bomb such as a boosted fission weapon. Such weapons use hydrogen fusion to produce smaller, lighter warheads suitable for arming a delivery device such as a missile, rather than to attain the destructive power of a true hydrogen bomb.^[9]

^ ^a ^b "M5.1 Nuclear Explosion – 22 km ENE of Sungjibaegam, North Korea". United States Geological Survey. 6 January 2016. Archived from the original on 7 January 2016. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
^ Nordkorea: BGR registriert vermutlichen Kernwaffentest – BGR (In German), 9 Sep 2016
^ Nordkorea: BGR registriert vermutlichen Kernwaffentest – BGR, 6 Jan 2016
^ "温联星研究组". Archived from the original on 19 September 2016.
^ "Search Results". USGS.
^ "North Korea's Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site: Analysis Reveals Its Potential for Additional Testing with Significantly Higher Yields". 38North. 10 March 2017.
^ "USGS M0+ earthquakes in North Korea, 2016". earthquake.usgs.gov. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
^ North Korea claims successful hydrogen bomb test in 'self-defence against US' The Guardian, 6 January 2016.
^ Declan Butler; Elizabeth Gibney (8 January 2016). "What kind of bomb did North Korea detonate?". nature. Retrieved 22 July 2020.

[USGS-M5.1-1] "M5.1 Nuclear Explosion – 22 km ENE of Sungjibaegam, North Korea". United States Geological Survey. 6 January 2016. Archived from the original on 7 January 2016. Retrieved 7 January 2016.

[BGRSep2016-2] Nordkorea: BGR registriert vermutlichen Kernwaffentest – BGR (In German), 9 Sep 2016

[BGRJan2016-3] Nordkorea: BGR registriert vermutlichen Kernwaffentest – BGR, 6 Jan 2016

[USTC-4] "温联星研究组". Archived from the original on 19 September 2016.

[USGS_Punggye-ri-5] "Search Results". USGS.

[38North_Punggye-ri-6] "North Korea's Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site: Analysis Reveals Its Potential for Additional Testing with Significantly Higher Yields". 38North. 10 March 2017.

[7] "USGS M0+ earthquakes in North Korea, 2016". earthquake.usgs.gov. Retrieved 18 June 2020.

[8] North Korea claims successful hydrogen bomb test in 'self-defence against US' The Guardian, 6 January 2016.

[nature-20160108-9] Declan Butler; Elizabeth Gibney (8 January 2016). "What kind of bomb did North Korea detonate?". nature. Retrieved 22 July 2020.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]