N. Korea says its H-bomb ‘capable of wiping out whole US at once’

North Korea claims it’s ready to detonate its H-bomb capable of wiping out the whole of the US “all at once.” The comments come amid increased week-long tensions on the Korean Peninsula following Pyongyang’s claim about its latest underground nuclear test.

“The scientists and technicians of the DPRK are in high spirit to detonate H-bombs … capable of wiping out the whole territory of the US all at once,” North Korean KCNA news agency said.

Along with the ‘wiping-out-US’ comments, Pyongyang added that the test “was neither to ‘threaten’ anyone nor to ‘provoke’ someone for a certain purpose.”

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“It was a process indispensable for carrying out the WPK's line on simultaneously carrying out the economic construction and the building of nuclear force to cope with the US ever-more undisguised hostile policy toward the DPRK,” the agency said.

North Korea has recently made the headlines after it claimed to have carried out hydrogen bomb test. The announcement raised concerns over the security of the region.

In the meantime, experts doubt that Pyongyang did test the H-bomb and later agreed the device was an atomic bomb similar to those in three previous tests.

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Pyongyang says developing a nuclear weapon was important in order to protect itself against US interference in North Korean affairs, and that the bomb can defend it against any invasion.

The UN Security Council unanimously condemned North Korea’s most recent nuclear test.

The test alerted neighboring Seoul. On Monday US troops stationed in South Korea were put on the highest alert ever to deter “any provocation coming from North Korea”. Earlier Washington deployed a strategic B-52 bomber on a low altitude demonstration flight over South Korea, to flex the alliance’s muscle.