Korea says it could halt nuke tests if U.S. scraps drills

“Still valid are all proposals for preserving peace and stability on the peninsula and in Northeast Asia, including the ones for ceasing our nuclear test and the conclusion of a peace treaty in return for a US halt to joint military exercises”, said a newsreader on Pyongyang’s state-run KRT TV, citing a Foreign Ministry spokesman.

Just exactly how it intends to invigorate its centrally controlled, isolated and inefficient domestic economy remains to be seen, especially if it continues to refuse to bow to worldwide pressure on its nuclear program and development of the long-range missiles needed to deliver them to targets on the US mainland.

“The three nations have agreed to focus their diplomatic capabilities on adopting a strong and comprehensive resolution at an early date”, Lim said.

North Korea called it a hydrogen bomb and said the test “scientifically proved the power of the smaller H-bomb”, though the United States and others expressed skepticism that Pyongyang actually tested a hydrogen bomb for the first time.

Kerry will visit Beijing on January 27 for “meetings with senior leaders of the Chinese government to discuss a range of global, regional, and bilateral issues, including North Korea”, the department said in a release without elaborating.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken, left in background, listens to South Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Lim Sung-nam, right in background, during a meeting at South Korean Embassy in Tokyo, Saturday, Jan. 16, 2016.

Pyongyang has called the annual U.S.-South Korean military drills a rehearsal for an invasion, though the allies have repeatedly said that the war games are defensive in nature.

“Now the US should be accustomed to the status of the DPRK as a nuclear weapons state whether it likes or not”, the statement said. “It’s the opposite of what we seek in the region”. It also is calling for a peace treaty with the US, echoing demands that were rejected by Washington in the past. “It’s hard to take any of their overtures seriously, especially in the wake of their nuclear test”.

While there is widespread skepticism over the H-bomb claim, whatever the North detonated underground last week will likely push the country closer toward a fully functional nuclear arsenal.