North Korea's nuclear test was diplomatic weapon to divide US and China
09:14, UK, Monday 04 September 2017
Image:Kim Jong Un knows his enemies have few military options
Dominic Waghorn
Diplomatic Editor
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Kim and the bomb, the photo essay. The series of photographs released by North Korea of its dear leader and an alleged hydrogen bomb spell out a clear message to the West.
"We are this close to a massively destructive nuclear device small enough to fit on a missile that could reach America".
Could it get any more provocative?
Well, at midday North Korean time, it did. Seismologists detected a huge man-made earthquake in the mountains of the northeast of the country.
Then with customary unbridled excitement a North Korean state news announcer
proudly boasted of her country's latest nuclear achievement.
Image:The H-bomb was five times more powerful than the Nagasaki device
A hydrogen bomb, if that's what they've tested, is a step change. It caused a blast many times more powerful than previous tests. It had as much as five times the explosive power of the bomb America dropped on Nagasaki in the Second World War.
The move suggests North Korea is more advanced in its nuclear ambitions than was thought even a short time ago.
Intelligence agencies have had to revise their estimates that the country is still years away from developing a device small enough to fit into an ICBM able to reach the west coast of America.
But this test was not just about Kim Jong Un trying out his nuclear train set. It was about him using it already as a weapon - a diplomatic one.
Image:The nuclear test was a powerful diplomatic weapon
Kim knows the outside world has no good military options against him.
His father made sure of that by deploying thousands of artillery on the southern border, guaranteeing the devastation of South Korea's capital Seoul should North Korea come under attack.
The only way to stop Kim is a united international effort to punish and deter him.
Crucial to that is China, the only country capable of bringing North Korea economically to its knees. So his priority is divide and rule, splitting the west from China. And that's a battle he's already winning.
Image:Washington and Beijing are being divided against the secretive state
China is already angry that America deployed THAAD missile batteries in South Korea. They say it breaks existing rules about the balance of military power in the region.
But despite that the US is now considering deploying more military assets to the peninsula, possibly nuclear. That would alienate Beijing even further.
Donald Trump is under increasing pressure to do something. If he does not, he risks looking like an impotent paper tiger. He has already threatened "fire and fury" on North Korea without any obvious intention to follow through.
So Kim's objective is to goad him and taunt him, to provoke him into action that will infuriate China and drive a deeper wedge between Washington and Beijing.
The photos of Kim and the bomb are all part of that strategy.
Mr Trump is notoriously thin skinned. Will he take the bait?
