North Korea's Kim Jong Un says H-bomb test "self-defensive step" against U.S.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the country conducted a hydrogen bomb test as a "self-defensive step" against a U.S. threat of nuclear war and had a sovereign right to do so without being criticised, the North's state-run television KRT reported on Sunday. "The DPRK's H-bomb test is a self-defensive step for reliably defending the peace on the Korean Peninsula and the regional security from the danger of nuclear war caused by the U.S.-led imperialists," KRT quoted Kim as saying. KRT said Kim made the comments on a visit to the country's Ministry of the People's Armed Forces. North Korea's fourth nuclear test on Wednesday angered both the United States and China. Meanwhile, the United States deployed a B-52 bomber on a low-level flight over its ally South Korea. The B-52, based in Guam and capable of carrying nuclear weapons, was joined by two fighter planes, a U.S. F-16 and a South Korean F-15, in a low flight over Osan Air Base near Seoul, before returning to Guam, the U.S. military said in a statement. The flight was "in response to recent provocative action by North Korea", it said.