|
 South Korea also said it would resume propaganda broadcasts by
loudspeaker into North Korea from Friday, which is likely to
infuriate its isolated rival, in response to its fourth nuclear
test.
The United States and weapons experts voiced doubts the device North
Korea tested on Wednesday was a hydrogen bomb, but calls mounted for
more sanctions against it for its rogue nuclear program.
The underground explosion angered China, which was not given prior
notice although it is North Korea's main ally, pointing to a strain
in their ties.
The test also alarmed Japan. Its prime minister, Shinzo Abe, agreed
with U.S. President Barack Obama in a telephone call that a firm
global response was needed, the White House said.
Obama also spoke to President Park Geun-hye of South Korea to
discuss options.
A South Korean military official told Reuters the two countries had
discussed the deployment of U.S. strategic assets on the divided
Korean peninsula, but declined to give further details.
 After North Korea last tested a nuclear device, in 2013, Washington
sent a pair of nuclear-capable B-2 stealth bombers on a sortie over
South Korea in a show of force. At the time, North Korea responded
by threatening a nuclear strike on the United States.
South Korea, technically in a state of war against the North, said
it was not considering a nuclear deterrent of its own, despite calls
from ruling party leaders. The United States is highly unlikely to
restore the tactical nuclear missiles it removed from South Korea in
1991, experts said.
The test was a "grave violation" of an August agreement by the two
Koreas to ease tension and improve ties, a South Korean national
security official, Cho Tae-yong, said in a statement.
"Our military is at a state of full readiness, and if North Korea
wages provocation, there will be firm punishment."
The United States is limited in its military response for fear of
provoking an unpredictable regime in Pyongyang, said Anthony
Cordesman, a defense policy expert at the Washington-based Center
for Strategic and International Studies think-tank.
"Any escalation in this region, any over-reaction can easily lead to
not only a conflict between South and North Korea, but drag China
and the United States and Japan into a confrontation," Cordesman
said.
A Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman called for a resumption of
so-called six-party talks between the two Koreas, China, the United
States, Japan and Russia aimed at curbing North Korea's nuclear
ambitions.
"We are worried about how things are developing," the spokeswoman,
Hua Chunying, told a briefing when asked if U.S. weapons to South
Korea risked inflaming the situation.
 Asked about a suggestion from U.S. Republican presidential
front-runner Donald Trump that China could do more to rein in North
Korea, Hua said: "What constructive efforts have they made?"
Hours after the nuclear test, the U.N. Security Council said it
would work immediately on significant new measures against North
Korea. Diplomats said that could mean an expansion of sanctions,
although major powers might baulk at an all-out economic offensive.
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U.S. congressional sources said Republican leaders of the U.S. House
of Representatives were considering a vote as soon as next week to
impose stiffer punishment on foreign companies doing business with
North Korea.
SURPRISE
North Korea has a long history of bellicose rhetoric against the
United States and its Asian allies but its assertion that it had
tested a hydrogen device, much more powerful than an atomic bomb,
came as a surprise.
North Korea also said it was capable of miniaturizing the H-bomb, in
theory allowing it to be placed on a missile and threatening the
U.S. West Coast, South Korea and Japan.
The U.S. State Department confirmed North Korea had conducted a
nuclear test but the Obama administration disputed the hydrogen bomb
claim.
"The initial analysis is not consistent with the claim the regime
has made of a successful hydrogen bomb test," White House spokesman
Josh Earnest told reporters.
The test took place two days ahead of what is believed to be North
Korean leader Kim Jong Un's birthday.
North Korea called the device the "H-bomb of justice", but its state
news agency also said it would act as a responsible nuclear state
and would not use its nuclear weapons unless its sovereignty was
infringed.
The impoverished state boasts of its military might to project
strength globally but also plays up the need to defend itself from
external threats as a way to maintain control domestically, analysts
say.
Hydrogen bombs use a two-step process of fission and fusion that
releases substantially more energy than an atomic bomb. However, it
will likely take several days to determine more precisely what kind
of device was set off as a variety of sensors, including "sniffer
planes", collect evidence.
A U.S. government source said Washington believes North Korea had
set off the latest in a series of tests of atomic bombs.
(Additional reporting by Meeyoung Cho, James Pearson, Se Young Lee,
Christine Kim, Jee Heun Kahng and Jack Kim in SEOUL, Louis
Charbonneau at the UNITED NATIONS, Matt Spetalnick, Ayesha Rascoe,
Doina Chiacu and Megan Cassella in WASHINGTON, Kaori Kaneko in TOKYO
and Ben Blanchard in BEIJING; Writing by Raju Gopalakrishnan;
Editing by Tony Munroe, Robert Birsel)
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