The UN plans to introduce a series of new measures against North Korea after the county’s state run news agency announced that Pyongyang had successfully tested a hydrogen bomb.
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The UN Security Council on Wednesday “strongly” condemned the nuclear test of Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) after the Council convened an emergency closed-door meeting on the DPRK.
South Korea’s presidential office said in a statement that Ms Park and Mr Obama had agreed to closely co-operate and that the worldwide community “must make sure that North Korea pays the corresponding price” for the nuclear test, reported Yonhap news agency.
They “agreed to work together to forge a united and strong global response to North Korea’s latest reckless behaviour”, it said in a statement.
Obama also spoke to President Park Geun-hye of South Korea to discuss options.
Four rounds of United Nations sanctions have aimed at reining in the North’s nuclear and missile development programs, but Pyongyang has ignored them and moved ahead with programs to modernise its ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons. If confirmed, it would be the country’s fourth nuclear test since 2006.
Suspicions were raised about underground testing in North Korea after seismic activity was first detected by the United States Geological Survey.
“It’s alarming and certainly what we need to do is use our influence on China to try to get them to influence North Korea’s behavior”, said Republican U.S. Senator Ron Johnson, who represents Wisconsin.
The United States is looking for a “tough, comprehensive and credible package of new sanctions” from the United Nations against North Korea, in response to what that country describes as a nuclear test.
UK Defence Secretary Philip Hammond took to Twitter to condemn the actions of North Korea.
Suspicions that North Korea had carried out a nuclear test were raised when an natural disaster was registered near the Punggye-ri nuclear site in North Korea at 10:00 Pyongyang time (01:30 GMT), with the tremors rattling Chinese border cities.
Traditionally, China has supported the expansion of sanctions against its ally and neighbor North Korea over nuclear tests and missile launches, although it has pushed hard to ensure the measures are not what it considers excessively harsh.
The US will not impose crippling sanctions due to its close relations with China, according to former American diplomat Joseph DeThomas.
A USA government source told Reuters that Washington believes North Korea had set off the latest in a series of tests of old-fashioned atomic bombs.
US House Speaker Paul Ryan said the test appeared to be a “provocation”.
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A hydrogen, or thermonuclear, bomb uses fusion in a chain reaction that results in a far more powerful explosion than the fission blast generated by uranium or plutonium alone.
