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 Kim made the comments as he toured the Phyongchon Revolutionary
Site, which marks the feats of his father who died in 2011 and his
grandfather, state founder and eternal president, Kim Il Sung, the
official KCNA news agency said.
The work of Kim Il Sung "turned the DPRK into a powerful nuclear
weapons state ready to detonate a self-reliant A-bomb and H-bomb to
reliably defend its sovereignty and the dignity of the nation," KCNA
quoted Kim Jong Un as saying.
DPRK are the initials of the isolated North's official name, the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea. A hydrogen bomb, also known
as a thermonuclear bomb, uses more advanced technology to produce a
significantly more powerful blast than an atomic bomb.
North Korea conducted underground tests to set off nuclear devices
in 2006, 2009 and 2013, for which it has been subject to U.N.
Security Council sanctions banning trade and financing activities
that aid its weapons program.
 An official at South Korea's intelligence agency told Yonhap news
agency there was no evidence that the North had hydrogen bomb
capacity, and believed Kim was speaking rhetorically.
The Foreign Ministry in China, North Korea's most important economic
and diplomatic backer, said China was dedicated to ensuring the
denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and resolving problems
through talks.
"We hope that all sides can do more to ameliorate the situation and
make constructive efforts to maintain peace and stability on the
peninsula," ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a daily news
briefing when asked about Kim's remarks.
Impoverished North Korea and rich, democratic South Korea remain
technically at war after their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce,
not a treaty. The North has threatened to destroy the South and its
major ally, the United States, in a sea of flames.
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Despite the underground tests, outside experts suspect the North is
short of achieving the capability to put a nuclear warhead on a
missile, although it has boasted it had succeeded in the
miniaturization of a weapon.
If the hydrogen bomb claim is true, it would indicate advances in
the North's pursuit of nuclear weapons.
"I think it's unlikely that they have an H-bomb at the moment, but I
don't expect them to keep testing basic devices indefinitely,
either," said Jeffrey Lewis of the California-based Middlebury
Institute of International Studies at Monterey.
It was possible the North was referring to the technology of
boosting the yield of a nuclear device, possibly using fusion fuel,
Lewis said.
North Korea claimed in 2010 that it had successfully developed
fusion technology.
Assessing progress of the North's nuclear program is difficult
because no one outside a close circle of leaders and experts knows
what advances have been made.
(Reporting by Jack Kim and James Pearson; Additional reporting by
Ben Blanchard in Beijing; Editing by Tony Munroe and Nick Macfie)
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