LOC11:51
08:51 GMT
TOKYO, Sept 6 (KUNA) -- Japan on Wednesday revised its estimate of North Korea's sixth nuclear test, saying that the recorded 160 kilotons explosion was ten times stronger than the Hiroshima bomb.
"The explosion was far more powerful than their previous nuclear tests. North Korea's development of a nuclear bomb with a considerably high yield poses a major threat," Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera told reporters. "We cannot rule out the possibility that it was a hydrogen bomb test," Onodera added.
Pyongyang announced on Sunday it has successfully conducted a test of a hydrogen bomb that can be loaded into a new intercontinental ballistic missile. The atomic bomb dropped by the US on Hiroshima City in 1945 during WWII carried a yield of about 15 kilotons. The force of North's fifth test in September 2016 was estimated at a yield of 11-12 kilotons.
According to the minister, the Defense Ministry's the new estimate, an upgrade from 120 kilotons, is based on a revised magnitude by the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO). (end)
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