NASHVILLE -- U.S. Sen. Bob Corker says North Korea's claim to have successfully tested a hydrogen bomb is "troubling enough" on its own if true.
But the Tennessee Republican warns it's "especially disturbing" given a decades-long "abject failure" of U.S. policy.
"Reports of a North Korean nuclear weapon test late yesterday are troubling enough in isolation, but if confirmed, this news is especially disturbing when put in context with events of the last several years," said Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in a statement today.
Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn. speaks with reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, recently."If found to be yet another test, yesterday's event serves as a sober reminder that ignoring this threat and hoping it will go away does not constitute a policy," Corker said.
Corker went on to say "the past several decades of U.S. policy toward North Korea has been an abject failure, and the United States - together with our allies and others in the region - must take a more assertive role in addressing North Korea's provocation."
He said the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has held various on North Korea, and he remains "committed" to working with fellow Republicans and Democrats to bring further pressure to bear on the brutal regime in Pyongyang."
In October, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee held hearings on North Korea's nuclear program at both the full committee and subcommittee level. At the time, Corker cited the failure of U.S. attempts to denuclearize the Korean peninsula and improve circumstances for the North Korean people and urged the Obama administration to take more action to address the situation.
The chairman also heaped blame on China for not using its influence over North Korea to alter the Kim regime's behavior, including Beijing's refusal to support a United Nations resolution condemning what Corker calls Pyongyang's "deplorable human rights record."