White House warns of firm action against N Korea if nuke test claim confirmed

White House National Security Council spokesman, Ned Price, has said that the Hydrogen bomb claim by North Korea cannot be confirmed as yet, saying that the US would respond 'appropriately' to all provocations by Pyongyang.

According to CNN, a senior U.S. administration official said that it could take days to obtain the scientific data to determine whether this was a successful test.

The South Korean defense ministry said it too could not immediately confirm the test's success, but the foreign ministry convened an emergency meeting. The country "strongly condemned" the test and warned Pyongyang that it would be made to "pay the price" for ignoring international opinion.

US President Barack Obama, during a visit to South Korea in 2014, lashed North Korea as a "pariah state" and vowed sanctions with "more bite" if Pyongyang went ahead with another test.

The Hydrogen bomb test could take North Korea a step closer to developing nuclear warheads capable of striking the United States.

According to a statement, North Korea asserted that it would not abandon its nuclear weapons program as long as the US maintained what it called "its stance of aggression".

Following the test, a 4.9 tremor was experienced and the Pentagon said that it was "looking into reports of a possible seismic event near North Korea's nuclear facilities.