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Yonhap
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea said on Sunday it has developed a more advanced nuclear weapon that has ”great destructive power" and leader Kim Jong Un inspected a hydrogen bomb that will be loaded on a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
The report by North Korea's official KCNA news agency comes amid heightened regional tension following Pyongyang's test launch of two ICBM-class missiles in July that potentially had a range of about 10,000 km (6,200 miles) that could hit many parts of the mainland United States.
Experts and officials have said North Korea could conduct its sixth nuclear test at any time, and that the reclusive country has maintained a readiness at its nuclear test site to conduct another detonation test at any time.
Kim visited the country's Nuclear Weapons Institute and ”watched an H-bomb to be loaded into new ICBM," KCNA said. ”All components of the H-bomb were homemade and all the processes ... were put on the Juche basis, thus enabling the country to produce powerful nuclear weapons as many as it wants, he said."
Yonhap
In January 2016, North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test, which Pyongyang claimed to be a successful test of a hydrogen bomb. Outside experts said that it appeared to be a test of a boosted fission weapon, rather than an H-bomb.
North Korea has carried out five nuclear tests since 2006 including two last year. It is seeking to develop a nuclear weapon small enough to be mounted on an ICBM.