White House press secretary Josh Earnest speaks during the daily briefing at the White House in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 10, 2015 (AP)
The White House on Thursday poured cold water on leader Kim Jong-Un's suggestion that North Korea has developed a hydrogen bomb.
Spokesman Josh Earnest said the White House had concerns about the "destabilizing actions" of the regime, but said available information "calls into serious question" claims that Pyongyang has a thermonuclear device.
During a recent inspection tour of a historical military site, Kim mentioned that North Korea was already a "powerful nuclear weapons state ready to detonate self-reliant A-bomb and H-bomb to reliably defend its sovereignty," the North's official KCNA news agency said Thursday.
North Korea has already tested three atom bombs, which rely on nuclear fission.
A hydrogen, or thermonuclear, device uses fusion in a chain reaction that results in a far more powerful explosion.
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