North Korea is amping up its rhetoric over the nuclear weapons issue, saying Thursday the country may test a hydrogen bomb in the Pacific.
The threats came after a week in which President Donald Trump made a combative speech blasting North Korea in front of the United Nations.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un responded to Trump' statements on Thursday, calling the president "deranged" and saying he will pay dearly for the threats.
North Korea's Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho made the statement about the hydrogen bomb Thursday, according to South Korean media. He was speaking on the sidelines of a United Nations gathering following an extraordinary direct statement by Kim in response to President Donald Trump's threat to "totally destroy" the North.
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South Korea's Yonhap news agency reports that Ri told reporters in New York that a response "could be the most powerful detonation of an H-bomb in the Pacific."
Ri reportedly added that "We have no idea about what actions could be taken as it will be ordered by leader Kim Jong Un."
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Such a test would be considered a major provocation by Washington and its allies.