Where did NK get this technology?

[SHRED]

China?
Russia?

[GP6971]

1. I'm thinking Iran. n/t

[brush]

27. Most likely rogue nuclear engineer A.O. Khan of Pakistan.

Last edited Tue Sep 5, 2017, 12:55 AM - Edit history (1)

[defacto7]

32. That's what I think, or another mercenary engineer.

Though I'm not convinced of an H bomb, they still need the tech knowhow to get where they are so quickly.

[applegrove]

2. Didn't know either had a hydrogen bomb.

[Warren DeMontague]

4. Russia has had the H-Bomb almost as long as we have.

China detonated one first in '67 I believe.

Im still not convinced that what NK blew up the other day was actually an h-bomb as opposed to a powerful fission device.

[applegrove]

7. I hope you are right.

[Warren DeMontague]

8. Me, too. Although a 120kt a-bomb is nothing to sneeze at, either.

[applegrove]

10. 10x fewer people dead at first strike with a traditional nuclear device vs.

a hydrogen one.

[Warren DeMontague]

12. "dark sun" is a good read- about Edward Teller and the hydrogen bomb program.

http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Sun-Making-Hydrogen-Bomb/dp/0684824140

Short answer, as I understand it, is there are some significant technical hurdles to achieving a hydrogen bomb. I would be surprised if NK managed it on their own, but if -as the OP speculates- someone is "helping" them, all bets are off.

There's very little I would put past Putin, personally.

[applegrove]

17. Seems like the world's worst leaders have all gotten together. Like Adam Schiff said

it is Authoritarians vs. Democracies these days. I hope we survive.

[pangaia]

18. Whew, that's a relief..

Not knowing how i even mean that...

I mean..Whew it IS better than 10x..

On the other hand, whew it is still horrible.

I can not imagine either...

[applegrove]

20. I didn't know much about nuclear bombs having come of age during

the end of the cold war. I just learnt how much bigger a H bomb is. I'm not advocating either either.

[pangaia]

21. I'm older than you and i also only know that an h bomb is mega worse than an a bomb

It's like trying to imagine the concept of 2 galaxies colliding 100 million light years away.

However, neither of those comes clise to the complexity of Beethoven's GROSSE FUGUE.

[applegrove]

22. Here is a visualization of Grosse Fugue for you:

[pangaia]

28. I'm getting dizzy. :)))

It seens to say , in the beginning, something about Beethoven at the premier in 1862. That would gave been quite a trick.

Maybe i misread it.

[Warpy]

29. BBC said the mockup Li'l Kim was grinning at

looked like a second stage fission weapon, the first blast setting off a second to increase the yield. Looks like it worked beyond their wildest dreams because it collapsed the tunnels they use to seal the blasts. I would imagine intelligence agencies are now gaining information via what leaked into the air this time. Prior tests have been well sealed.

[Warren DeMontague]

30. Either way, not good.

[Warpy]

31. The test was successful but it seems to have wiped out part of the testing facility

Anything that slows them down is a good thing.

I just feel sorry for the poor bastards they'll send in there to repair it. And you know they will.

[applegrove]

35. Bleak!

[defacto7]

33. The Soviets exploded the largest H bomb ever ignited

on earth, approximately 150 megatons... compared to our measly 90 megatons... or 50... I don’t remember exactly.

[longship]

34. Czar Bomba. It was 100Mtons, scaled back to 50Mtons.

They scaled it back because at 100 Mtons it would have wiped out the bomber that dropped it.

Scary!

[defacto7]

36. Whoa, I was way off, so I looked it up

The Tsar Bomba, as the test was ultimately known, had a yield between 50 and 58 megatons, twice the size of the second-largest nuclear blast.

A bomb of this size would create a fireball 6.4 square miles large and would be able to give humans third-degree burns within 4,080 square miles of the bomb's epicenter.

http://www.businessinsider.com/largest-nuclear-detonations-in-history-2016-12/#1-the-tsar-bomba-9

Thanks for the memory reload.

[longship]

38. There's actually video of this beast going off.

Pic:

[defacto7]

40. Truly insane.

Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds. -Vishnu, Bhagavad-Gita

[applegrove]

39. Here is a link to a NYTimes article on the difference between thermonuclear

Last edited Tue Sep 5, 2017, 03:08 AM - Edit history (1)

bombs (hydrogen) and nuclear bombs.

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/09/03/world/asia/north-korea-hydrogen-bomb.html

[drray23]

3. well they have scientists that got trained in china.

But still, they seem to be progressing faster than we did during WWII and the manhattan project. We had all the brightest minds back then working on it. Obviously they are getting help or were able to reverse engineer designs of existing systems...maybe chinese or iranian missiles?

[SHRED]

5. Maybe from Russia

They are oligarchs and anarchists. Mobsters sewing chaos.
They know Trump well. By his balls.

[NutmegYankee]

25. Authoritarian societies have proven far more efficient with catching up on technologies.

It's amazing what can be achieved when failure to meet a schedule results in death.

Democracies tend to be slower, but far more creative as they focus on happiness of their citizens. I'm very happy to live in the latter.

[Warren DeMontague]

6. Yeah, they seem to have progressed quite rapidly all of a sudden

Interesting, isnt it.

[Adrahil]

9. It's not like it's hard to find, really...

I mean, the U.S. and the Soviet Union both developed hydrogen bombs and ICBMs 60 years ago. For the most part, the challenge of building these weapons is getting the material. High levels of quality control require refined engineering processes and knowledge, but it's not black magic.

[Scurrilous]

11. Google. n/t

[dalton99a]

13. Russia and Pakistan

http://globalnews.ca/news/3448765/north-korea-nuclear-weapons/
May 13, 2017 11:00 am
How did North Korea get nuclear weapons?
By Rahul Kalvapalle

After the war, North Korea tried to convince its wartime ally China to share its nuclear weapons technologies. Supreme Leader Kim Il-Sung, grandfather of present-day leader Kim Jong-Un, twice asked Chinese ruler Mao Zedong for help but was refused both times, according to The Two Koreas: A Contemporary History.

As a founding member of the Soviet-led Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, North Korea had for years sent its scientists to the Soviet Union for nuclear energy training, according to a timeline compiled by the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI).

The Soviets even helped North Korea set up its first nuclear reactor in 1964. The reactor was used to produce radioactive isotopes for medicinal, industrial and research purposes.

The groundwork for North Korea’s uranium nuclear weapons program was laid in the ‘90s, with substantial help from Dr. A.Q. Khan, the pioneer of Pakistan’s atomic bomb program.

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Recent advances in missile technology most likely came from Russia as reported by NYT and Newsweek

http://www.newsweek.com/north-korea-north-korea-missiles-north-korea-nuclear-north-korea-missiles-650504
North Korea’s New Missiles Came From Ukraine and Russia, Report Claims
By Greg Price On 8/14/17 at 10:14 AM

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/14/world/asia/north-korea-missiles-ukraine-factory.html
North Korea’s Missile Success Is Linked to Ukrainian Plant, Investigators Say
By WILLIAM J. BROAD and DAVID E. SANGER | AUG. 14, 2017

[roamer65]

14. The Russians.

This is more discord being sown by Moscow.

[jberryhill]

15. Where does anyone get technology? Aliens.

Kidding aside, all we had was a bunch of guys and gals with slide rules and pencils.

[Stinky The Clown]

16. Here's a plot for a spy novel: Iran is running their nuke program in NK and sharing

[winetourdriver01]

19. Where?

Well, this isn't all that hard to figure out. Who is the "Sauron" of our age? Could it possibly be Vlad Putin? Of course it could/is.

[TreasonousBastard]

23. At least one of their rockets is reported to be of Russian design, with Russian engines...

The bombs? There are reportedly a whole bunch of nuclear scientists out there freelancing since weapons programs have been shrinking.

There's a huge black market out there, with Pakistan, Iran, Israel, and others having the technology.

[Binkie The Clown]

24. eBay? nt

[CentralMass]

26. Pakistan ?

[DFW]

37. Pakistan

The nuclear "have bomb technology will travel" nuclear scientist Kahn is in all likelihood the culprit here. At the time, the Pakistanis probably thought it was OK to let him play with the Kim family so as to keep China in check. They could have put Khan on a tighter leash any time they wanted.

[chelsea0011]

41. Is this it for explosive technology? I would think trying to knock out

an entire nation from telecommunication would incapacitate without total annihilation and would be the next step instead of bombs? Or are they still looking at destruction?

[Lee-Lee]

42. The middle technology most likely from Ukraine

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/08/14/world/asia/north-korea-missiles-ukraine-factory.html