The test was first detected as a 5.3 magnitude natural disaster on Friday morning in north-east North Korea, close to its Punggye-ri underground nuclear test site.
Advertisement
Late 1970s: North Korea starts working on a version of the Soviet Scud-B (range 300km).
The nuclear test sets the stage for a new round of tensions on the divided Korean Peninsula, and heightens anxieties elsewhere in Asia and beyond.
“What we can tell from the seismic waves so far is that this is likely not a thermonuclear test”, said 38 North managing director Jenny Town. Kim is the North Korean leader. Friday’s suspected test falls on a North Korean holiday: the 68th anniversary of North Korea’s founding as a state.
Condemnation from the United States and its allies will likely be swift and sharp, and will nearly certainly include calls for action from the United Nations Security Council.
“Our nuclear scientists staged a nuclear explosion test on a newly developed nuclear warhead at the country’s northern nuclear test site”, a North Korean TV presenter said.
North Korea says it has successfully conducted a nuclear explosion test aimed at examining the power of its nuclear warheads.
Kim Jong Un argues his country has succeeded in making nuclear weapons small enough to be fitted on a ballistic missile.
Another resident of Seoul, Kim Moon-kyeong, says “North Korea’s nuclear provocation is such a silly act”.
After several failures, North Korea put its first satellite into space with a long-range rocket launched in December 2012, and has since launched another satellite on a similar rocket.
As with previous nuclear tests, the waveform generated indicated it had not been naturally occurring.
Aug 2013: North Korea reported to have restarted nuclear reactor to produce plutonium.
The grouping also expressed grave concern over the DPRK’s nuclear tests and ballistic missile launches and called for the full implementation of all relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions, including the UNSC sanctions regime and the 2005 Joint Statement.
China is North Korea’s only ally but has become increasingly impatient with the rogue nation, going as far as supporting new U.N sanctions against North Korea earlier this year.
The episode unfolded less than a day after U.S. president Barack Obama concluded the final Asian tour of his presidency and highlighted the conundrums that the North Korean threat presents to the United States and China, which have often been at odds over how to respond to the bellicose acts of North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un.
Dec 3, 2015: Satellite images indicate North Korea is excavating a new tunnel at its main nuclear test site at Punggye-ri, United States think-tank says.
That is twice as strong as the hydrogen bomb tested in January.
The move by the powerful 15-member council came in response to requests for such a meeting from Japan, the United States and South Korea, the sources said.
President Park has been stressing the gravity of North Korea’s advanced nuclear program and told world leaders that South Korea’s national security is at risk, as a matter of life and death. l keep you updated throughout the day.
A series of ballistic missile launches has also drawn intense criticism, with another three fired on Monday even as world powers gathered for a G20 meeting in China.
Advertisement
March 18: North Korea for the first time since 2014 fires a medium-range Rodong missile, which flies about 800 kilometers (500 miles) before crashing into its eastern waters.
