North Korea says it has successfully carried out its fifth test of a nuclear device.
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Seoul estimated the test produced the North’s biggest-ever explosive yield.
Leaders from South Korea, Japan, the USA and China condemned the nuclear test.
President Park Geun-hye, who is on an overseas trip to Laos, condemned the test, saying that its provocation would only invite stronger global sanctions, deeper isolation and hasten its self-destruction.
North Korea’s state run news agency said the country carried out “a higher level” nuclear test explosion, just hours after U.S. president Barack Obama departed from his tour of Asia.
Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters Friday that “there is a possibility that North Korea has forced a nuclear test”, citing the temblor showing wave patterns from a non-seismic source.
“We insist that North Korea stop its risky adventurism, abide by all resolutions of the UN Security Council, cease its nuclear missile programs and re-join the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty”, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
China, the North’s main ally, would stick to its aim of de-nuclearising the Korean peninsula and uphold the six-party talks process to resolve the issue, the ministry added in a short statement. Artificial seismic waves measuring 3.9 were reported after North Korea’s first nuclear test in 2006; 4.8 was reported from its fourth test this January.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) also detected what it called an “explosion” that it said was 11 kilometers east-northeast of Sungjibaegam in North Korea, near a known nuclear test site.
The North Korean Central TV Broadcasting Station said the country carried out a nuclear explosion test to check the capacity of a nuclear warhead.
North Korea says the test shows the country is ready to hit back if provoked by enemies including the United States, and that it will continue its efforts to strengthen the quantity and quality of its nuclear weapons.
The North also often uses nationally important dates as an opportunity for a show of military strength.
“(The test) is proof of the frantic recklessness of the nuclear-obsessed Kim Jong-un administration”, the president said in an emergency meeting in Laos.
South Korea’s meteorological agency said that the “man-made” quake emitted energy double that emitted by a nuclear test North Korea undertook in January.
North Korea, led by a third-generation dictatorship and wary of outsiders, protects its nuclear program as a closely guarded state secret, and the claims about advancements made in its testing could not be independently verified.
In a statement on Friday, China’s foreign ministry has expressed firm opposition to the nuclear test by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).
Its last nuclear test, in January, was purported to be of a hydrogen bomb, but that claim has not been confirmed.
Ms Park’s office said she spoke with United States president Barack Obama about the test by phone from Laos, where she attended a regional summit.
Concern has been growing that North Korea is testing weapons at an unprecedented pace this year, said CNN Seoul correspondent Paula Hancocks.
The announcement on state media came hours after a huge seismic event was detected near its nuclear test site.
A nuclear test would breach United Nations resolutions and pose a grave challenge to global nuclear non-proliferation efforts, Kishida told reporters.
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The North has also been angered by a US and South Korean plan to install an anti-missile defence system in the South and by the allies’ massive annual joint military exercises, which are still taking place.
