A tunnel collapse was reported on October 10th in North Korea at a nuclear test site. Fox News stated that, “North Korea detonated a hydrogen bomb, calling it a ‘perfect success.’ It was the country’s most powerful bomb tested to date and the blast was reportedly 10 times more powerful than the nuclear bomb that was dropped over Hiroshima at the end of World War II”.

The detonation happened at the Punggye-ri test site while people were doing construction on the underground tunnel, which was reported by Japan’s Asahi TV. The television station also said North Korea’s sixth nuclear test on Sept. 3rd most likely caused the tunnel to crumble and created serious damage in the region”. Fox News reported that “experts have feared for more than a month that the test site was on the verge of crumbling since the nuclear blast”. Two hundered people are said to have perished in the collapse and yet people were still permitted to work in it.

Following this collapse, experts who spoke to the Independent said that, “Punggye-ri nuclear site may not be used for much longer to test nuclear weapons.” The mountain that this site is set on is also said to be unstable as Fox News reported that “some experts also said Mantap was suffering from ‘tired mountain syndrome’ due to the stress on the ground. It was also reported by the Washington Post  that Chinese scientists have also warned the mountain could collapse and release radiation. With the collapse of the tunnel, the threat of a nuclear attack appears to be growing. The Independent expressed this news by saying, “North Korea has accelerated the threat that it poses to its neighbors and the world through its illegal and unnecessary missile and nuclear weapons programs.”

The lives that were lost in the collapse demonstrates that the threat and dangers of nuclear weapons is already having a drastic effect on the lives of those in North Korea, the thought of the weapons actually being used makes the fear greater. Countries around the world are preparing for the possibility that the acceleration in the development of nuclear weapons may be the beginning of something greater.