News of the test emerged when seismic monitors detected a 5.3-magnitude “artificial earthquake” early Friday near the North’s Punggye-ri nuclear site, where the last test took place in January.
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“Today, the DPRK again conducted a nuclear test despite widespread worldwide opposition – the Chinese government firmly opposes this”, the ministry in Beijing said in a statement on its website, using the North’s official name.
North Korea appeared to conduct a fifth nuclear test Friday morning.
North Korea said the test was of a nuclear warhead that could be mounted on a ballistic missile and that it is now in a position to produce as many “smaller, lighter and diversified” nuclear weapons as it wants “at will”.
Park, meanwhile, cut short her overseas trip after a magnitude 5 natural disaster was detected near the North’s nuclear site in its northeastern region, suggesting that the reclusive country carried out another nuclear test.
He says: “Nuclear weapons must be prohibited in order to pursue stability and peace in East Asia”.
North Korea has been hit by five sets of United Nations sanctions since it first tested a nuclear device in 2006, but has insisted it will continue, come what may. Japan called North Korea an “outlaw nation”.
On Tuesday, the KCNA reported that top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un has instructed to “continue to make miraculous achievements in bolstering up nuclear force one after another in this historic year”, giving a hint that another nuclear test may be in the pipeline.
Japan was swift to condemn the suspected test with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe saying it was closely co-coordinating with its allies.
Park said South Korea will employ all available measures to put more pressure on North Korea, which had previously conducted nuclear tests every three to four years.
The US National Security Council said it was aware of seismic activity in the region of the test site and was “monitoring and continuing to assess the situation in close coordination with our regional partners”.
Agencies in China, Pyongyang’s main diplomatic ally, also recorded the tremor.
North Korea’s state TV says Friday’s nuclear test “examined and confirmed” specific features of a nuclear warhead created to be mounted on ballistic missiles.
Seoul’s presidential office said Barack Obama spoke with Park by telephone as he flew back from Laos.
The nuclear test coincided with the 68th anniversary of the founding of the country.
Japan’s Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida also confirmed that Japan Meteorological Agency has detected shaking patterns that are not from a naturally occurred earthquake.
The detonation of a nuclear warhead by North Korea has been described as an act of “fanatic recklessness”.
North Korea likely wanted to show the world that strong worldwide sanctions following its fourth nuclear test and long-range rocket launch earlier this year haven’t discouraged its efforts to advance its nuclear weapon and missile programs, according to Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korea expert at Seoul’s Dongguk University.
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The U.S. Geological Survey called the seismic activity an “explosion” on its website.
