Hours after South Korea noted unusual seismic activity near its neighbor’s northeastern nuclear test site, North Korea announced that it had conducted its second nuclear test in eight months on Friday. The U.S. Geological Survey detected a seismic event that it called an “explosion” at around 9:30 a.m. The test came on the 68th anniversary of North Korea’s founding and was, by some estimates, more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Additionally, it raises growing concerns that Pyongyang has moved a step closer to its goal of a nuclear-armed missile that could one day strike the U.S. mainland.
President Obama cited the move as dangerous and unacceptable, but has so far only threatened using the United Nations and further sanctions on North Korea, something that has done little in the way of slowing the U.S’s most antagonistic enemies, such as North Korea, Iran and even Russia. We hope that this is not another red line situation, like in Syria, that will of course be crossed time and time again without repercussions furthering our weakened stature in the international community.
By OpsLens Staff
