UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon denounced the nuclear test as “deeply troubling” and “profoundly destabilising” for regional security.
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“The members of the Security Council will begin to work immediately on such measures in the new Security Council resolution”.
On Wednesday, there was a burst of jubilation and pride in North Korea’s capital of Pyongyang, where a TV anchor said the test of a “miniaturized” hydrogen bomb had been a “perfect success” that elevated the country’s “nuclear might to the next level”.
“Security Council Resolutions”, the White House said in a statement.
Also on Wednesday, the UN Security Council “strongly” condemned the nuclear test after the Council convened an emergency closed-door meeting on the DPRK. During the previous tests, seismic activity ranged from 3.7 from the first test in 2006 to 4.9 in 2013.
A successful test would mark a major and unanticipated advance for the North’s still-limited nuclear arsenal and push its scientists and engineers closer to their goal of building a warhead small enough to place on a missile that can reach the USA mainland. “The Clinton administration led the world in relaxing sanctions against North Korea”.
The “H bomb” actually is a two-stage device that uses the implosion of a “primary” fission device of plutonium or highly enriched uranium to set off a “secondary” fusion component fueled with hydrogen isotopes.
The underground explosion angered China, which was not given prior notice although it is North Korea’s main ally, pointing to a strain in ties between the neighbours.
Q: How would nuclear experts establish the validity of North Korea’s claim of testing a hydrogen bomb?
China knew nothing about the test before the DPRK announced that it had done so, Hua said when asked if China had been informed ahead of time.
“The key to sanctions having an impact is to ensure that countries do not trade with North Korea, and so the key of course will be China and I believe that China is as frustrated as the rest of the global community by North Korea’s most recent behaviour”, she said.
The White House is expressing skepticism over North Korea’s claims that it has detonated a hydrogen bomb.
However, speaking to the Washington Post, James Acton, co-director of the nuclear policy program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said: “Regardless of whether this is a hydrogen test or a normal, vanilla device, this is a very serious provocation”.
“The announcement followed a magnitude 5.1 quake that shook near the rogue nation’s nuclear test site, Pyunggye-ri, at 10 a.m. local time”.
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The country had “proudly joined the advanced ranks of nuclear weapons states”, the government said, with the test seen as bolstering the standing at home of new leader Kim Jongun, 32, who took over in 2012 following the death of his father, longtime leader Kim Jong-il.
