US President threatened to 'totally destroy' North Korea
North Korea has suggested it could detonate a nuclear bomb in the Pacific Ocean, in response to an inflammatory debut UN speech by US president Donald Trump.
The foreign minister for North Korea, Ri Yong Ho, said his government would consider a hydrogen bomb test of an unprecedented scale in the sea, but added that such a decision would ultimately be taken by the country's ruler, Kim Jong-un.
His remarks came shortly after the North Korean state news agency released a transcript of a rare personal statement by Mr Kim, in which he hit back at the US president's "deranged" address at the UN.
Mr Trump's threat to "totally destroy" North Korea and impose new sanctions had "convinced" him he was right to continue developing nuclear weapons, Mr Kim said.
Speaking in New York, Mr Ri said his country would continue to escalate its weapons tests, after a claimed hydrogen bomb test at a land-based nuclear facility near Pyongyang earlier this month.
“It could be the most powerful detonation of an H-bomb in the Pacific," he said.
“We have no idea about what actions could be taken as it will be ordered by leader Kim Jong-un.”
China, North Korea's ally and arbiter of stability in the region, called on all parties to excercise restraint after the incendiary remarks.
"No matter the changes in circumstance, no matter how long it takes, not matter the difficulties we face, China will always persist in the goal of denuclearising the peninsula, in moving towards talks," said Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the UN on Thursday.
Tensions between North Korea and the US has been ratcheted up in recent months, prompted by a series of missile launches by North Korea, against international rules.
The claimed nuclear test earlier in Spetember caused tremors in China and prompted wave of anxiety throughout the region.
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