Kim Jong-un celebrates American Independence Day in style…

UPDATED STORY....

from The Washington Post....

North Korea says it successfully tested hydrogen bomb for long-range missile

North Korea has conducted a nuclear test, officials from Japan and South Korea said on Sunday
after an artificial earthquake was detected near the Pyongyang regime's known nuclear test site.

By ANNA FIFIELD | 3:03AM EDT - Sunday, September 03, 2017

North Korea said that it had developed a more advanced nuclear bomb with “great destructive power,” releasing photos of Kim Jong Un inspecting
what his government described as a hydrogen bomb that could be attached to a missile capable of reaching the mainland United States.
— Photograph: Korean Central News Agency/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images.

TOKYO — North Korea claimed on Sunday to have detonated a hydrogen bomb that can be mounted on a missile capable of reaching the mainland United States — a claim that, although unverified — will sharply increase tensions between the Pyongyang regime and the rest of the world.

Kim Jong Un personally signed off on the nuclear test, Ri Chun Hee, North Korea's most famous news anchor, said in a special broadcast on Sunday afternoon.

The bomb was a two-stage weapon with a yield that analysts said could make it a “city buster.”

The U.S Geological Survey on Sunday said it had recorded a 6.3 magnitude earthquake exactly at noon Sunday local time, near North Korea's nuclear test site in Punggye-ri, in the county's northeast region. The quake was felt in northern China, with emergency sirens blaring in Yanji, near the North Korean border, according to local media.

South Korean authorities said Sunday's earthquake appeared to be artificial, consistent with a nuclear test. Japan's Foreign Ministry said it has concluded that North Korea did conduct a nuclear test.

It's North Korea's sixth nuclear test, and the first since President Trump was inaugurated.

North Korea's recent nuclear tests have happened exactly on the hour, often on meaningful dates for North Korea or the United States. It is a holiday weekend in the United States, which marks Labor Day on Monday.

A North Korean nuclear test in September of last year registered as a 5.3-magnitude earthquake at 9 a.m. on a national holiday marking the 68th anniversary of the formation of the communist regime by Kim Il Sung, the current leader’s grandfather.

After the test was detected, South Korean President Moon Jae-in called an emergency meeting of his national security council, and the chairman of his Joint Chiefs of Staff put the South Korean military on alert.

In Japan, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he “would not tolerate” another nuclear test.

Analysts had been expecting another nuclear test after North Korea said earlier on Sunday that it had developed a more advanced nuclear bomb with “great destructive power.” But they weren't expecting it so soon after the announcement.

Earlier on Sunday before the test, the state-run Korean Central News Agency released photos of Kim Jong Un inspecting what his government described as a hydrogen bomb that could be attached to a missile capable of reaching the mainland United States.

All the components of the “H-bomb” were “homemade” so North Korea could produce “powerful nuclear weapons as many as it wants,” the state-run Korean Central News Agency quoted Kim as saying.

North Korea's latest claim of a hydrogen bomb could not be verified. Although it said that a nuclear test in January last year was of a hydrogen bomb, experts said the seismic waves generated were consistent with an ordinary nuclear device, not a thermonuclear one.

A sixth nuclear test by the North Koreans would be highly inflammatory for the United States and China, as well as North Korea's other neighbors.

China has expressed annoyance at North Korea's frequent ballistic missile launches, but analysts have said China probably would not take serious action — unless there is another nuclear test.

Sunday's events could also change the equation for Washington. Trump has been warning the Kim regime not to test him, warning on Twitter that the American military was “locked and loaded.”

In April, the U.S. Air Force deployed to Japan a WC-135C Constant Phoenix, a four-engine jet designed to detect nuclear tests by collecting air samples. The plane, based on the Japanese island of Okinawa, probably will be used to determine what the North Koreans tested underground.

The aircraft carries about 30 personnel and is one of the arms of the U.S. Atomic Energy Detection System. The jet was used in 2011 to track radioactive activity around the Fukushima nuclear power plant after an earthquake and tsunami hit Japan that year.

• Thomas Gibbons-Neff in Washington contributed to this report.

• Anna Fifield is The Washington Post's bureau chief in Tokyo, focusing on Japan and the Koreas. She previously reported for the Financial Times from Washington DC, Seoul, Sydney, London and from across the Middle East.

__________________________________________________________________________