North Korea's Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un revealed recently that the country has developed hydrogen bombs, a Pyongyang's state media reported Thursday.
Since Liu Yunshan, the Chinese Communist Party's fifth-ranked official, visited Pyongyang in October and held talks with North Korean leader Kim, there have been signs of improvement in bilateral ties. However, experts remain sceptical.
While taking these claims into consideration, worldwide forces don't seem to take them as a fact.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest said, "we certainly are concerned about the policies and intent and destabilizing actions of the North Korean regime".
Kim made the remarks as he toured the Phyongchon Revolutionary Site, which indicates the efforts of his dad who perished in 2011 and his grandpa, state creator Kim Il Sung, and perpetual president, the official KCNA news agency said.
North Korea has often made threats about its nuclear arsenal in the past.
And a South Korean defense minister said, "We are closely monitoring and tracking any and all of North Korea's nuclear activities".
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In this photo provided by the South Korean Unification Ministry, South Korea's chief delegate Kim Kiwoong, right, shakes hands with his North Korean counterpart Hwang Chol during a meeting at the border village of Panmunjom, North Korea, Thursday, Nov. 26, 2015. "We do not believe that North Korea, which has not succeeded in miniaturizing nuclear bombs, has the technology to produce an H-bomb".
Such devices use fusion to create a blast far more powerful than a more basic atomic bomb.
"Between South and North, there are many issues to discuss and resolve".
Nuclear expert David Albright, head of Washington's Institute for Science and International Security, said there had been concerns for several years that North Korea has been pursuing thermo-nuclear weapons. But they also noted that North Korea has repeatedly vowed to improve the quality of its nuclear weapons.
In Beijing, China said it is aware of the North's H-bomb claim, and called for all relevant countries to make greater efforts to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, lower tensions and maintain peace and stability.
But its conventional weaponry is dated, with limited effectiveness, and it has looked to developing its nuclear capabilities to project power internationally.
China, North Korea's most important economic and diplomatic backer is likely to veto any Security Council bid to refer North Korea to the ICC, diplomats said.
