Bob Corker says North Korea claim on hydrogen bomb ‘troubling’ if confirmed

People watch a TV screen showing the news reporting about an earthquake near North Korea's nuclear facility at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016. North Korea said Wednesday it had conducted a hydrogen bomb test, a defiant and surprising move that, if confirmed, would put Pyongyang a big step closer toward improving its still-limited nuclear arsenal. The letters read: " North Korea's nuclear test." (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

By Staff Report January 6, 2016 2 min read

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.”