The test Friday was North Korea’s fifth atomic test and the second in eight months.
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South Korea’s president said the detonation, which Seoul estimated was the North’s biggest-ever in explosive yield, was an act of “fanatic recklessness” and a sign that leader Kim Jong Un “is spiraling out of control”.
Tensions in North Asia have also been running high over a plan to deploy a USA missile defense system known as Thaad in South Korea.
“Such actions clearly violate the established worldwide norm against nuclear tests”.
“This suggests a marked improvement in North Korea’s nuclear capabilities”, he said, urging a united global response from countries including the United States, China, South Korea and Russian Federation.
Obama claims that “serious consequences” will result from North Korea’s “flagrant violation” of UN Security Council Resolutions banning nuclear weapons.
He said Japan’s national security council has held a meeting since the test.
Analysts say frequent provocations may not work in a U.S. election year.
“This is more than brazen defiance”, Power told reporters at United Nations headquarters.
“North Korea is seeking to flawless its nuclear weapons and their delivery vehicles so they can hold the region and the world hostage under threat of nuclear strike”, U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power said before the meeting.
Jin Qiangyi, Director of Yanbian University’s Centre for North and South Korea Studies on the Chinese side of the North Korea border, said China would be in a quandary about a substantive reaction.
After the meeting, China’s Ambassador Liu Jieyi sidestepped questions about Beijing’s support for sanctions. Obama said he had told Xi that China needs to “work with us more effectively” to rein Kim in.
US stock markets fell, partly because of an increase in investor nervousness following North Korea’s nuclear test.
China is also upset with the United States for what it sees as Washington’s interference in the disputed South China Sea.
“We believe new sanctions are indispensable”, French Ambassador Francois Delattre said.
The North Korean state media confirmed it had carried out the test and revealed the country has a strategic ballistic missile it is ready to use. “This has definitely put on a higher level (the North’s) technology of mounting nuclear warheads on ballistic rockets”.
“Clinton promised to work to end North Korea’s nuclear programme as secretary of state, yet the programme has only grown in strength and sophistication”, Miller added in his statement.
US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter called for further pressure on North Korea, but said China bore “responsibility” for tackling the problem.
“North Korea’s fifth nuclear test, the fourth since Hillary Clinton became secretary of State, is yet one more example of Hillary Clinton’s catastrophic failures”. The UN Security Council also met Friday afternoon for an emergency meeting.
Obama condemned the nuclear test “in the strongest possible terms as a grave threat to regional security”.
North Korea showed its potential ability to strike the United States on August 24, when it launched a missile from a submarine off its eastern coast. “Today’s nuclear test, a flagrant violation of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions, makes clear North Korea’s disregard for worldwide norms and standards for behaviour and demonstrates it has no interest in being a responsible member of the global community”.
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.
Its fifth test yesterday produced a 10-kilotonne blast in the country’s north-east – nearly twice as powerful as the one in January and not far from the 15-kilotonne atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. The Rodong is a North Korean medium-range missile tested earlier this week that can fire a 1 tonne (1,100 lb) warhead up to 2,000 km (1,250 miles). “The test would show North Korea’s willingness to break the power balance in the East Asia region”. Senior officials from Pyongyang were in both capitals this week.
“It’s really great news”, said Rim Jong Su, 42.
The latest test was announced on state TV hours after a 5.3 magnitude tremor was detected near the Punggye-ri underground nuclear site.
North Korean leader Kim has overseen a robust increase in the number and kinds of missiles tested this year. “The blast measured about 10 kilotons”, a Defence Ministry spokesman in Seoul told reporters.
The seismic activity comes on the 68th anniversary of the founding of North Korea’s government and just days after world leaders gathered in China for the Group of Twenty economic summit.
Over the years, sanctions and talks have failed to stop North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.
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The Korean Peninsula remains technically at war, as the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.
