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North Korea nuke test 10 times bigger than Hiroshima, caused landslides above blast zone

38 North website publishes satellite images taken Monday showing changes in the surface at the Punggye-ri test site where the ground had been lifted into the air by the tremors

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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspects a device purportedly part of his county’s nuclear weapons programme. Photo: Reuters

Japan Wednesday again upgraded its estimated size of North Korea’s latest nuclear test to a yield of around 160 kilotons – so powerful it triggered landslides in the detonation area and beyond.

This marked Tokyo’s second revision higher after previously giving estimates of 70 and 120 kilotons, making it more than 10 times the size of the Hiroshima bomb.

The underground blast on Sunday caused a 6.3-magnitude earthquake, according to the US Geological Survey, and was followed a few minutes later by another with a magnitude of 4.1.

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It lead to suggestions that the mountain over the site could be at risk of collapsing, potentially releasing radioactive material into the atmosphere.

Pyongyang said the test was of an H-bomb that could be fitted onto a missile, heightening tensions over its weapons ambitions and prompting global condemnation.

Satellite images of the Punggye-ri nuclear test site before and after the sixth nuclear test. Photo: 38 North

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