<p>North Korea said today its nuclear test was not intended to be a provocation or threat, as it laid out plans for a weapons system capable of obliterating the entire United States.<br /><br /></p>.<p>A lengthy commentary by the official KCNA news agency underlined the North's claim that last Wednesday's test was of a powerful miniaturised hydrogen bomb which marked a "new high stage" in the country's search for a credible nuclear deterrent.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />The KCNA commentary said the test was an indispensable stage on the "normal course" which other countries have taken to the development of a two-stage fission-fusion H-bomb.<br /><br />"The test was neither to 'threaten' anyone, nor to 'provoke' someone for a certain purpose," KCNA said, insisting that the main focus was on providing a "sure guarantee" of the North's immunity from attack by hostile forces.<br /><br />Prime among those forces was the United States it said, offering an apocalyptic vision of how it would respond to US aggression.<br /><br />North Korean scientists and technicians "are in high spirit to detonate H-bombs of hundreds of kilotons and megatons, capable of wiping out the whole territory of the US all at once," it said.<br /><br />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.</p>
<p>North Korea said today its nuclear test was not intended to be a provocation or threat, as it laid out plans for a weapons system capable of obliterating the entire United States.<br /><br /></p>.<p>A lengthy commentary by the official KCNA news agency underlined the North's claim that last Wednesday's test was of a powerful miniaturised hydrogen bomb which marked a "new high stage" in the country's search for a credible nuclear deterrent.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />The KCNA commentary said the test was an indispensable stage on the "normal course" which other countries have taken to the development of a two-stage fission-fusion H-bomb.<br /><br />"The test was neither to 'threaten' anyone, nor to 'provoke' someone for a certain purpose," KCNA said, insisting that the main focus was on providing a "sure guarantee" of the North's immunity from attack by hostile forces.<br /><br />Prime among those forces was the United States it said, offering an apocalyptic vision of how it would respond to US aggression.<br /><br />North Korean scientists and technicians "are in high spirit to detonate H-bombs of hundreds of kilotons and megatons, capable of wiping out the whole territory of the US all at once," it said.<br /><br />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.</p>