H-bomb or not, experts say North Korea near its nuclear goal
North Korea's latest nuclear test was part theater, part propaganda and maybe even part fake. But experts say it was also a major display of something very real: Pyongyang's mastery of much of the know-how to become a full-fledged nuclear state.
It remains unclear whether North Korea tested, as it claims, a hydrogen bomb ready to be mounted on an ICBM.
But Sunday's test was a stunning advance in its demonstrated ability to build high-yield nuclear weapons. The explosion is believed to have ranged from 140 kilotons to potentially double that—or more.
The power of the blast is an important indicator of whether the device was the hydrogen bomb North Korea says it was.
