The next month, the United Nations Security Council unanimously passed a resolution imposing new sanctions on the regime, including limits on its trade. North Korea claimed it to be their “highest level” test yet.
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South Koreans watch TV news reporting the North Korea’s nuclear test at the Seoul Railway Station on September 9, 2016 in Seoul, South Korea.
Such a yield would make this test, if confirmed, larger than the nuclear bomb dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima in World War Two and potentially bigger than that dropped on Nagasaki soon after.
Chinese analysts say North Korea resorted to the fifth test as it was increasingly getting under pressure because of military exercises between the U.S. and the South and also due to the proposed deployment of Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD).
South Korea’s prime minister announced a National Security Council meeting would take place on Friday to discuss the potential nuclear activity.
The statement said China’s stance has always been to achieve denuclearisation on the Korean Peninsula, prevent nuclear proliferation and maintain peace and stability in Northeast Asia.
US brass were quick to add more condemnation of the test Friday afternoon.
Under 32-year-old third-generation leader Kim Jong Un, North Korea has sped up development of its nuclear and missile programmes, despite United Nations sanctions that were tightened in March and have further isolated the impoverished country.
Clinton disagreed with past Trump statements, and said on Friday that South Korea and Japan play important roles in the missile defense system that protects the United States against North Korea’s threats.
ATLANTA – (CNN) Ten years, five nuclear tests, and they appear to be getting stronger.
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. In the hours following the test, Pyongyang claimed to have successfully detonated a nuclear warhead.
The January test produced a 4.8-magnitude seismic event.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un faced worldwide condemnation on Friday for what was believed to be a 10-kilotonne blast at the Punggye-ri nuclear site.
A test conducted in February 2013 triggered an quake of 5.0 magnitude, according to NORSAR, a Norwegian non-profit which monitors nuclear explosions and seismic activity worldwide. “It doesn’t take rocket science to understand we are not left with too many options”, the ambassador said.
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North Koreans gathered around public screens to watch the official announcement of the test – which came on the 68th anniversary of the country’s founding.
