Trump says 'appeasement' will not work after NK nuke test

US President Donald Trump declared Sunday that "appeasement with North Korea" will not work, after Pyongyang claimed it had  successfully tested a missile-ready hydrogen bomb.

"North Korea has conducted a major Nuclear Test," Trump said. "Their words and actions continue to be very hostile and dangerous to the United States."

This combo of file photos shows an image (left) taken on April 15, 2017 of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un on a balcony of the Grand People`s Study House following a military parade in Pyongyang; and an image (right) taken on July 19, 2017 of US President Donald Trump speaking during the first meeting of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity in Washington, DC. North Korea declared itself a thermonuclear power on September 3, 2017, after it carried out a sixth nuclear test more powerful than any it has previously detonated and presenting President Donald Trump with an unprecedented challenge. (AFP)

His comments came hours after the US Geological Survey picked up a 6.3 magnitude "explosion" in North Korea, which Pyongyang confirmed was a nuclear test, its sixth.

The isolated regime said this one was of a hydrogen bomb that could be fitted atop a ballistic missile, sharply raising the stakes in a US-North Korea confrontation.

Trump last month threatened North Korea with "fire and fury" if it continued to threaten the United States, but he refrained from direct threats in his latest tweets.

"South Korea is finding, as I have told them, that their talk of appeasement with North Korea will not work, they only understand one thing!" he said.

"North Korea is a rogue nation which has become a great threat and embarrassment to China, which is trying to help but with little success." (AFP)