US defense secretary Jim Mattis calls North Korea's hydrogen bomb test threat over Pacific 'shocking'

New Delhi: US defense secretary Jim Mattis said on Monday it would be “shocking” irresponsibility for North Korea to carry out its threat to test a hydrogen bomb over the Pacific. [caption id=“attachment_3755755” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Jim Mattis. AP[/caption] The new comments, made while Mattis headed for India, followed a shrill war of words between the North Korean and US leaders over Pyongyang’s nuclear programme. Pyongyang’s foreign minister Ri Yong-Ho said on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly on Saturday that his country could test a nuclear bomb over the Pacific. “This would be a shocking display of irresponsibility for global health, towards stability, towards non-proliferation,” Mattis told reporters on his flight to India. He declined to comment when asked if such a test would constitute an act of war. Amid bitter wrangling between US president Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, US bombers and jet fighters flew off the North Korean coast on Saturday in a show of force. The North’s nuclear programme will be one of the regional security topics raised by Mattis with Indian leaders during his three-day stay.