Israel joins world in condemning N. Korea over disputed H-bomb test

Nearly a week after North Korea said it tested a nuclear weapon, and as the international community has increasingly cast doubt that the country managed to detonate a hydrogen bomb, Israel has condemned Pyongyang.

“Israel condemns North Korea’s nuclear test, and joins the international community in expressing concern of the danger that this act poses to regional stability and international peace and security,” the foreign ministry says in a statement. ” This act by the DPRK must be met with a swift response by the international community. A clear message must be sent to the DPRK and to other countries, that such activities are unacceptable and cannot be tolerated.”

World powers are looking for ways to punish the North over its disputed bomb test, which, even if not of a hydrogen bomb, still likely pushes Pyongyang closer to its goal of a nuclear-armed missile that can reach the US mainland.

North Korea says its nuclear test was not intended to be a provocation or threat, but laid out plans for a weapons system capable of obliterating the entire United States Tuesday.

A lengthy commentary by the official KCNA news agency underlined the North’s claim that last Wednesday’s test was of a powerful miniaturized hydrogen bomb which marked a “new high stage” in the country’s search for a credible nuclear deterrent.

Experts have largely dismissed the claim, saying the test yield was far too low for a full-fledged thermonuclear device and was similar to the simple fission implosion devices it has tested three times in the past.

Outside experts say the yield from Wednesday’s test was around six kilotons, while an H-bomb would have been at least 100 times more powerful.

— with Raphael Ahren and agencies