The State Department on Wednesday declined to discuss a White House disclosure that the United States may have known in advance that North Korea was about to test a hydrogen bomb.
The White House disclosed on Wednesday just hours after North Korea reportedly detonated a large-scale hydrogen bomb that it was "not surprised" by the test.
When asked to clarify this comment at a briefing for reporters, State Department Spokesman John Kirby declined to address speculation that the Obama administration may have had advance knowledge that the test was coming.
"The White House said it was not surprised by this test. What signs have there been over the last months or weeks that the U.S. was not surprised, or was it the scale of it that might have taken you aback?" Kirby was asked at the briefing.
He declined to shed light on the White House’s comment.
"That gets into intelligence issues and I think you can understand, particularly in the case of North Korea, why we are going to be reticent to discuss intelligence matters and capabilities," Kirby said.
"So you were expecting this?" the reporter interjected.
"I wont go any further than my colleagues at the White House in terms of level of knowledge," Kirby said. "Without getting into the specifics of this test and what we knew, when we knew it …. this kind of activity is not new for the [North Korean] regime, nor is their pursuit of this type of capability."
When pressed on the matter, Kirby claimed that it "wouldn’t be prudent for me to go into specifics," indicating that the United States may have had advance intelligence on North Korea’s actions.
Some reports have indicated that the United States ran a reconnaissance mission around 10 minutes before North Korea detonated what it claimed was a miniaturized hydrogen bomb.
Kirby also would not deny this, stating, "I don’t want to talk about specific military matters."