North Korea has been under United Nations sanctions since 2006.
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On Monday, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called on the country’s military to bolster its nuclear capabilities after ordering the launch of three ballistic missiles. The US retains some 28,500 ground troops in the Korean Peninsula, and is still technically in a state of war with North Korea from the last Korean War.
Although China has criticized North Korea’s nuclear and missile tests, it has repeatedly expressed anger since the US and South Korea decided in July to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense anti-missile system in South Korea.
President Obama called North Korea’s latest nuclear test a “grave threat” to regional security and global stability and again vowed to take “additional significant steps”, including sanctions, against the rogue state.
The New York Times reported from Seoul that President Park Geun-hye cut short a visit to Laos for a regional summit and condemned the test as showing the “fanatical recklessness of the Kim Jong Un regime”. President Obama swiftly condemned the action, which was a clear and defiant violation of United Nations sanctions.
According to estimates, the yield of this test is about 10 kilotons, which is believed to be Pyongyang’s most powerful nuclear detonation to date.
Earlier Friday, Obama called for new sanctions “to demonstrate to North Korea that there are consequences to its unlawful and risky actions”.
USA -based 38 North, a North Korea monitoring project, said in a note late on Thursday that satellite images showed fresh activity at North Korea’s Punggye-ri test site.
“India deplores the nuclear test conducted by North Korea this morning”, Ministry of External Affairs said.
Asked if the United Kingdom should start talking to North Korea, he said: “At the moment, we are still looking at security council resolutions and the strongest possible condemnation”.
In January, North Korea said it had successfully detonated a hydrogen bomb, its fourth nuclear test, and vowed to build up its nuclear program as deterrence against potential aggression from the United States and its regional allies.
“But I think it’s no secret to you, or the world, that there is only one country that really has influence on North Korea and that, of course, is China”.
Obama said he had called the leaders of South Korea and Japan to confer over the crisis, with Park and Japanese leader Shinzo Abe also agreeing to cooperate closely with each other.
A spokesman for the US National Security Council said the administration was aware of Friday’s activity near the test site.
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“Sanctions have already been imposed on nearly everything possible, so the policy is at an impasse”, said Tadashi Kimiya, a University of Tokyo professor specializing in Korean issues.
