North Korea conducted its sixth nuclear test, which some experts assessed to be a test of a hydrogen bomb, on September 3. At a magnitude of 6.1, according to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization, the test was North Korea’s most powerful to date.
“Unless there is a more serious, more coordinated, and sustained diplomatic strategy to reduce tensions and to halt further nuclear tests and long-range ballistic missile tests in exchange for measures that ease North Korea’s fear of military attack, Pyongyang’s nuclear strike capabilities will increase, with a longer range and less vulnerable to attack, and the risk of a catastrophic war on the Korean peninsula will likely grow,” said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association in a September 3 statement. “This latest North Korean nuclear test once again underscores the importance of universalizing the 1996 Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty,” he added.