Donald Trump says would pressure China to get North Korea under control

Outspoken Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump today said he would pressure China to get North Korea under control, after the reclusive nation claimed it has successfully tested its first hydrogen bomb.

"They (China) have total control over North Korea. China should solve that problem," Trump told Fox News. "If they don't solve the problem, we should make trade very difficult for Chin because we are, believe it, we are holding China up. They're taking so much money. They're draining our country, and they're toying with us with North Korea," Trump told the tv channel in an interview.

Responding to questions on the North Koreans detonating a hydrogen bomb, Trump said as president he would "immediately" start talking to China. "North Korea is totally under (their) control -- without China, they wouldn't eat. They wouldn't have food. They wouldn't have anything. So, China should do it. They say they can't, they don't have that power. They're toying with our politicians who don't know what they're doing," he said.

Republican candidate Marco Rubio said the nuclear test is another example of "failed Obama-Clinton" foreign policy. "Our enemies around the world are taking advantage of Obama's weakness. We need new leadership that will stand up to people like Kim Jong-un and ensure our country has the capabilities necessary to keep America safe," he said in a statement.

New Jersey Governor and Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie too blamed the Obama administration. "Three out of the four nuclear detonations that the North Koreans have done have happened on Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton's watch, and they have just not acted strongly at all around the world. It's just another example piling on top of Iran, on top of Syria, on top of Crimea and Ukraine," he said.

"This is what weak American leadership gets you. And Americans should be very, very concerned about this, because we have a president right now who has no idea how to lead our country or lead the world," Christie said.

The White House has said it will not accept North Korea as a nuclear state. "North Korea conducted its first nuclear test in 2006 and, until today, has done so twice since, but we have consistently made clear that we will not accept it as a nuclear state," said Ned Price, spokesman of the National Security Council, White House.

"We will continue to protect and defend our allies in the region, including the Republic of Korea, and will respond appropriately to any and all North Korean provocations," Price said. Congressman Ed Royce, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said dictators like Kim Jong-Un don't take time outs, they take advantage when the US looks away. "As Iran prepares to gain billions in sanctions relief, North Korea surely thinks it can intimidate the Obama administration into the same," he said.