A North Korean official announced Monday the communist country possesses a hydrogen bomb and ballistic missile strong enough to detonate all of the Manhattan borough of New York, leaving it in “ashes.”
“If this H-bomb were to be mounted on an intercontinental ballistic missile and fall on Manhattan in New York City, all the people there would be killed immediately and the city would burn down to ashes,” nuclear scientist Cho Hyong-Il said, according to a state-run North Korean news outlet.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un says his nation has tested nuclear weapons over the past few months, including a long-range rocket carrying a satellite last month. Experts are skeptical the country’s capability matches the rhetoric.
Last week, North Korea fired several short-range missiles into the sea in a defiant move against South Korean sanctions.
U.S. officials have not issued a response to the claim.
