This latest test follows a series of ballistic missile launches that have drawn worldwide condemnation and United Nations sanctions.
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The council, which has adopted a resolution imposing additional sanctions every time Pyongyang has conducted a nuclear test, is poised to do so this time, too.
The Kim Jong Un-led country is “now capable of mounting nuclear warheads on ballistic rockets”.
The United States said it would work with partners to impose new sanctions, and called on China to use its influence as North Korea’s main ally to pressure Pyongyang to end its nuclear programme.
Ms Park condemned the move as an act of “self-destruction” that would deepen its isolation.
Now, he said, “we are coming to nearly this confrontational situation” following the North’s fifth nuclear test on Friday and its launch of more than 20 ballistic missiles. Kim Jong-Un’s rule has been erratic and brutal, and the availability of weapons able to kill thousands of people in seconds make a lethal combination against the world and South Korea, a country that’s still warring against its northern counterpart.
“Sanctions have already been imposed on nearly everything possible, so the policy is at an impasse”, said Tadashi Kimiya, a University of Tokyo professor specialising in Korean issues.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull described the test as a “reckless, provocative risky action”.
“ISIS and North Korea are not entirely unconnected because the greatest threat of all would be terrorists getting hands on loose nuclear material”, Clinton said, “so it’s vital we bring the world together to stop North Korea’s unsafe game”.
“Today the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, despite universal opposition from the global community, conducted another nuclear test, to which the Chinese government is firmly opposed”, said the statement.
US President Barack Obama said he would do what was necessary to protect the US and allies from North Korea.
“It’s persistent, it’s provocative, it’s risky”. The 10-kiloton test detected from the Punggye-ri nuclear facility had created “artificial seismic waves” and triggered a quake measuring 5.3 on the Richter scale.
Whether the North’s announcement of its test is simply the same mixture of boast, threat and propaganda that characterizes much of what North Korea chooses to show in its tightly controlled state media, or a major nuclear advancement, the picture that the North paints for the world may be as important as what actually happened. We are trying to figure out whether it was successful.
North Korea said Friday it had successfully conducted a test of a nuclear warhead. Gardner said the USA should speed up that deployment.
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“North Korea is seeking to ideal 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 told reporters ahead of the council meeting. “We must lodge a strong protest”, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said.
