Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he plans to take to establish the veracity of recent reports that the North Korean government has capacity for a hydrogen bomb making facility.

We assess that the size of the seismic event caused by the 6 January nuclear test conducted by North Korea (DPRK) was not indicative of a successful two-stage thermonuclear test (commonly known as a hydrogen bomb). However, as the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) has said in his Written Ministerial Statement on 13 January, this activity was a clear violation of four UN Security Council Resolutions, and we are working with other UN Security Council members on a further Resolution.