U.S., Experts Deny North Korea's Claims of Creating Hydrogen Bomb

The North Korean government made claims this week that it is allegedly in possession of a hydrogen bomb.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reportedly claimed during a recent tour of the Phyongchon Revolutionary Site that North Korean intelligence has successfully developed a hydrogen bomb.

The state-run KCNA media outlet claims that Jong-Un said the work of previous leaders "turned [North Korea] into a powerful nuclear weapons state ready to detonate a self-reliant [atomic] bomb and [hydrogen] bomb to reliably defend its sovereignty and the dignity of the nation."

According to USA Today, hydrogen bombs are considered far more powerful than a nuclear bomb.

The U.S. immediately shot down North Korea's claims, with White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest saying he "calls into serious question" North Korea's claims.

Jeffrey Lewis of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies added to Reuters that he thinks it's "unlikely" North Korea has actually developed a hydrogen bomb.

"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," Lewis told the media outlet.

Daniel Pinkston, an expert on the Asian country's nuclear weapons production from Romanian-based Babes-Bolyai University, added to The Washington Post that he thinks it would be "impossible" for North Korea to have developed a hydrogen bomb.

"Do I think they have the capacity to make a hydrogen bomb? I think that's virtually impossible," Pinkston said.