SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea says it has conducted a successful hydrogen bomb test, a surprise announcement.

Just hours before the explanation, the European Mediterranean Seismological Center said it had detected unusual seismic activity in North Korea. It wasn’t immediately clear whether North Korea has conducted its fourth nuclear test, or if it was a natural earthquake.

The agency said on its website on Wednesday it had measured the magnitude of the seismic activity at 5.1.

A South Korean meteorological agency said shortly after the event the “man-made” event registered magnitude 4.3.

The event is near the site of a 2013 underground nuclear test conducted by North Korea.

Japanese meteorological officials observed the tremor was very shallow, similar to past tests.

Earlier in the day, the U.S.-Korea Institute at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies said new satellite images indicated North Korea was proceeding with the development of a submarine-launched ballistic missile, despite reports of a failed test a few weeks ago.

The imagery suggested the submarine was seaworthy, and that new testing activity may be conducted.

The imagery also shows North Korea is constructing facilities that could accommodate the building of bigger submarines.

Missiles launched from submerged vessels would be harder to detect that land-based ones, but the institute said North Korea likely remains years away from having an operational system.

A hydrogen bomb is so powerful that it includes an atomic bomb inside the core which is only used as a  trigger.. and when it explodes, it sets off fusion reactions in the nearby deuterium/tritium. It is called a hydrogen bomb because deuterium & tritium are simply isotopes of hydrogen.

With this staged design, it is possible to have a thermonuclear bomb which is far more powerful than an atomic bomb. In fact, the hydrogen (fusion piece) of this is thought to be completely scalable (the bomb may be as powerful as desired and it is limited only by practicality/engineering).

SHOULD WE FEAR NORTH KOREA WITH THE H BOMB?

No. We should fear Japan more than North Korea. We feared Saddam more than what comes after him. Today we fear Russia more than Turkey. We should fear what the world are not afraid of more than the nations that the media tells us to fear. Japan will use this to make its argument for its own armament. Japan will join Turkey in the future. 2016 as it turns out is more interesting than I even thought.

When it comes to North Korea we should consider China uniting with Korea to fight Japan in the future. According to Jing-dong Yuan, Director of Research for East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies, and an Associate Professor of International Policy Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, a prominent Chinese analyst has listed the desires of Japan as such, summing the Japanese issues and goals that will spark conflict:

…its [Japan’s] desire to achieve greater independence of US control and to attain great power status, a growing emphasis on military power, fear of nuclear and missile threats in the region, as well as the rise of neighboring countries (such a China), and a revisionist approach to history. (1)

All of these goals and concerns are interconnected. The fanatic and dangerous reactionary ideas of Shinzo Abe and his ilk, which are promulgated through historic revisionism, cannot be accomplished without a powerful military; a powerful military with “great power status” is only possible with independence from the US; independence from the US can be obtained by Japan taking advantage of America’s fears of a rising China and North Korea, thus convincing the Americans to enable Japan to boost its military might in the name of defending itself against neighboring threatening countries.

Taking advantage of a worrisome situation, like North Korea testing nuclear weapons, is an old and typical trick of every aspiring tyranny. A disaster, or distressful situation, can be used as, in the words of Machiavelli, “an opportunity” to “introduce whatever form” one thinks fit. (2)

After North Korea detonated a nuclear device as a test in 2006, the US and Japan came up with a resolution “that could have been cited at some future point as authorizing the use of military force” against North Korea. Russia and China produced their own resolution which actually defeated and overrode the proposition of the US and Japan.

This conclusion reveals two things: (1) Russia, regardless of current prospects of significant trade with Japan, comprehends the potential threat of a militarily enabled Japan; (2) Japan is using the perceived threat of North Korea and China to convince the US to remove the restrictions placed on its military defenses. This conviction is already ongoing. As Hiroko Tabuchi, a New York Times reporter in Japan, writes:

Washington has generally been keen for Japan to take on a more active military presence in the region to counterbalance China’s growing might.

The Japanese are stubborn and relentless in this issue. In April, a panel of Japanese government experts are expected to propose to Shinzo Abe a reinterpretation of the Japanese constitution in regards to weapons, in order to allow Japan to use weapons for defense against North Korea. Just last month, in February, Abe used the scenario of North Korea attacking the United States and Japan coming to its defense and using weapons to prevent arms being transferred to North Korea, expressing his urgent desire for a more militarily independent Japan. After picking the hypothetical situation of if “North Korea attacked the United States”, Abe said:

When the international community imposes economic sanctions, we also have to discuss whether we should prevent weapons and ammunition from being transported to North Korea.

Japan understands that it has to display a pro-American stance, a facade that it is truly looking after the US as a balancer in Asia and a defender against China and North Korea. If Japan wants to receive American military support against China for the Senkaku islands, the Japanese have to assure the US that it will fight side by side with the Americans. A member of an advisory panel related to national security issues for the Abe administration, made this point clear:

The United States does not want to fight for such islets …Unless Japan shows that it is prepared to fight together with the United States when the time comes, the United States will say to Japan about defense of its outlying islands, “OK, sayonara.”

Nonetheless, America’s willingness to defend Japan against China should not be belittled in any way. When China established an air defense zone over in the Senkaku islands, “the United States sent two unarmed B-52 bombers through the airspace, after which China appeared to backpedal from its threats.”

Shinzo Abe has increased military spending, shifting Japan, militarily speaking, to its most powerful state since the end of WW2. Hiroko Tabuchi gives us these details:

“Mr. Abe has also increased military spending for the first time in a decade, and loosened self-imposed restrictions on exporting weapons. A new defense plan calls for the acquisition of drones and amphibious assault vehicles to prepare for the prospect of a prolonged rivalry with China.”

And of course this is taking place under the watch of the US, who is enabling and allowing Japan to do so for the sake of keeping China in check, just as the US is empowering Turkey by arming jihadists in Syria in order to keep Iran in check.

Japan should not be underestimated. Their naval power is formidable enough, that James Holmes of the U.S. Naval War College, conceded “that there is a reasonable chance that Japan could defeat China in a naval conflict today—even if fighting all by itself.” (3)

As America continues to follow its current path, you will see a rising Japan under the red sun, and from a friend it will turn to a foe. With this you will also witness a rise in Buddhist fanaticism, just as in Turkey we are seeing the revival of Islamic fundamentalism. There are definitely similarities between both religions, and the two of them will give fortitude to the violent spirits of the two peoples, the Japanese and the Turks.

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(1) Jing-dong Yuan, Chinese perspectives on the US-Japan alliance, in David Arase and Tsuneo Akaha, The US-Japan Alliance, part 2, ch. 4, p. 93, ellipses mine

(2)The Prince, ch. 6, trans. Wayne A. Rebhorn)

(3) Justin Logan, China, America, and the Pivot to Asia, No. 717, January 8, 2013