Who is to say that Kim doesn't have that at his disposal? Not everyone starts from scratch on these things. There are plenty of other countries that would love the data from such a test but for political reasons cannot conduct one on their own. Even Kim's nearby benefactors could have ben involved.
Consider, too, that the first test could have been a smashing success (npi) and that further tests are unnecessary. Why not be magnaminous in that case and play the "look, he apologized ... what a guy!" game the press and Europe seems to lap up?
He does not...........Yet.... He has the same plans and info that the AQ Kahn network sold to Lebanon, Iraq and Iran, and this came from Pakistan research and development.
Knowing is a far cry from implementation, and this is what the test was about.
What is distorting this picture, is the Clinton claim that they shut the NK nuke project down for eight years, but all they did was freeze the access to plutonium, which NK did not need anyway, until they had further progressed in their research and development. When they were ready for the plutonium, they ditched the agreement, and withdrew from the proliferation treaty. They never stopped the program at all.
Now we come to this test, and it is becoming obvious that the test did not work as planned. They need this test to be successful so they can complete the package by creating a complete device that Iran can use to jump miles ahead from where they are now in tech, as they develop their infrastructure to reverse engineer the device and make plenty more.. They then need to work on the miniaturization to put it on their missiles but that is not something we can wait for, as they can deliver the package in many other ways, including a truck or barge to Israel or where ever.
The test did teach them a few things, and the next would likely be successful, or the next. They would then be very close to a working hydrogen bomb capable of mass destruction on a huge scale. This is what Iran wants, and why it is likely they are funding all of this.
You apparently misread what I was trying to say to the other poster. I was not discounting the test. I was only discounting the idea that it was plutonium based. They don't need to test that part, they need to test the initiator. The yield from the test apparently was way off, and that is not surprising. The next test, or the one after that, will likely succeed, and away we go!
Not with NK, but with Iran. They are the ones who need this bomb and they are quite willing to pay NK through the nose for it, no doubt. NK is just a service provider. As I read this situation.