Officials say they have mastered the ability to mount a warhead on a ballistic missile.
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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – North Korea said Friday it conducted a “higher level” nuclear warhead test explosion that will allow it to finally build “at will” an array of stronger, smaller and lighter nuclear weapons. It will raise serious worries in many world capitals that North Korea has moved another step closer to its goal of a nuclear-armed missile that could one day strike the USA mainland.
It’s also a misunderstanding to think that the North’s youthful leader Kim Jong-Un is unhinged, he added.
Media reports said South Korea would hold an emergency meeting of its National Security Council at the Blue House. Japans Prime Minister Shinzo Abe answers a reporter’s question following a report of a strong indication of a nuclear test in North Korea, at his official residence in Tokyo Friday, Sept. 9, 2016.
China said it was resolutely opposed to the test and urged Pyongyang to stop taking any actions that would worsen the situation.
There is little scientific evidence to verify that North Korea has perfected the science of creating a nuclear bomb small enough to fit on a ballistic missile and withstand the physics of atmospheric re-entry.
The test, which comes eight months after the last one, was expected to further tighten United Nations sanctions.
Its continued testing in defiance of sanctions presents a challenge to Obama in the final months of his presidency and could become a factor in the U.S. presidential election in November, and a headache to be inherited by his successor.
“We strongly urge the DPRK side to honour the commitment to denuclearisation, abide by the relevant United Nations security council resolutions and halt any moves that could aggravate the situation”.
South Korea’s Meteorological Agency confirmed that an artificial quake had occurred at the site.
In its statement announcing the underground test, North Korea expressed anger at the “racket of threat and sanctions. kicked up by the US-led hostile forces” to deny a “sovereign state’s exercise of the right to self-defence”.
However, North Koreans who gathered around public screens to watch the official announcement of the test – which came on the 68th anniversary of the country’s founding – were approving.
Previous recent comments from China following North Korean missile tests, including one on Monday when China was hosting the G20 summit, have pointedly not mentioned North Korea by name.
What North Korea’s opponents can actually do is problematic.
North Korea’s boast of a technologically game-changing nuclear test defied both tough global sanctions and long-standing diplomatic pressure to curb its nuclear ambitions.
Estimates of the explosive yield of the latest blast have varied.
“The 10-kiloton blast was almost twice the (power of the) fourth nuclear test and slightly less than the Hiroshima bombing, which was measured about 15 kilotons”, said Kim Nam-Wook from the South’s meteorological agency. “Not a happy day”, Lewis told Reuters.
The detonation is being reported to have reached 10 kilotonnes, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.
“The important thing is that five tests in, they now have a lot of nuclear test experience”.
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“Nor should they expect China to solve this problem for the United States”, said the institute’s Joel Wit.
