2016 Presidential Candidates React to Alleged North Korean H-Bomb Test
Thousands of North Koreans gather at the Kim Il Sung Square, Jan. 6, 2015 in Pyongyang, North Korea, to rally in support of their leader Kim Jong Un’s new year address to his country.
(ABC News) — North Korea announced Wednesday night that it had conducted a successful hydrogen bomb test. Although the detonation has not yet been confirmed, the possibility that North Korea has intensified its nuclear capability has evoked strong reactions not only from the global political community, but also from 2016 presidential candidates.
In a statement on Twitter, Sen. Marco Rubio slammed the test as “the latest example of the failed Obama-Clinton foreign policy.”
“I have been warning throughout this campaign that North Korea is run by a lunatic who has been expanding his nuclear arsenal while President Obama has stood idly by,” Rubio said in a statement. “I have been warning throughout this campaign that North Korea is run by a lunatic who has been expanding his nuclear arsenal while President Obama has stood idly by.”
Jeb Bush also took to Twitter to condemn “Obama Clinton foreign policy.”
North Korean nuke test https://t.co/zNW3xU9cZD shows danger of continuing feckless Obama/Clinton foreign policy.
— Jeb Bush (@JebBush) January 6, 2016
Carly Fiorina echoed the assertion that the test “is yet another Hillary Clinton foreign policy failure.”
“Of course North Korea would conduct a nuclear test after watching Iran willfully violate an agreement they just made without consequence of any kind from this administration,” she said in a post on Facebook.
On a morning appearance on Fox News on Wednesday, Chris Christie also contended that Obama and Hillary Clinton were to blame for North Korea’s actions.
“The problem here is that it’s been a weak response by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for the last seven years,” he said. “The fact is that we’ve allowed North Korea, while the president’s been playing footsie with the Iranians, we’ve allowed the North Koreans to get further and further down the nuclear road.”
Democrat Bernie Sanders called for a stronger reliance on China as a diplomatic power in the wake of the alleged H-bomb test.
“China is North Korea’s closest ally. They’ll have to push North Korea to start adhering to international agreements,” Sanders said on “Good Morning America” today. “When you have a hydrogen bomb, if that’s true, you are a threat to China, as well.”
