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.
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The man-made quake, detected by USA instruments Friday at 5.3 in magnitude, was more powerful than any of the previous underground tests conducted by the government of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un – indicating that the weapon detonated with a yield of about 10 kilotons.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye, in Laos after a summit of Asian leaders ended there on Thursday, said North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was showing “maniacal recklessness” in completely ignoring the world’s call to abandon his pursuit of nuclear weapons.
South Korea said the nuclear threat from its neighbor was growing fast as it called for tougher sanctions from the UN Security Council against the North.
“We will take additional significant steps, including new sanctions to demonstrate to North Korea that there are consequences to its unlawful and unsafe actions”, she added.
United Nations members from the US, South Korea, Japan, Russia and China held an urgent meeting to discuss how to stop ruthless ruler Kim Jong-un in his tracks.
The U.S.is joined by France and the United Kingdom in calling for new sanctions.
The UN Security Council has agreed to begin drawing up new sanctions against North Korea over its fifth and reportedly biggest nuclear test. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra ad Al Hussein also designated two independent human rights experts to support the work of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in North Korea Tomas Ojea Quintana.
“It is too early to bury the six-party talks”.
“This constitutes a direct threat to the United States, and we can not and will never accept this”, she said.
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”.
President Barack Obama condemned the test and said the United States would never accept the country as a nuclear power. In a statement on Friday, Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion said Canada “condemns in the strongest terms” the test.
“The president indicated he would continue to consult our allies and partners in the days ahead to ensure provocative actions from North Korea are met with serious consequences”, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said.
Germany summoned the North Korean ambassador in Berlin after the test in “violation of United Nations resolutions”. “On the contrary, it is poison that is slowly suffocating the country”. “The patience of the worldwide community has come to the limit”, she said.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the nuclear test is an “unacceptable violation” of UN Security Council resolutions.
Pyongyang’s state media said the nuclear test had realized the country’s goal of being able to fit a miniaturised warhead on a rocket.
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Pyongyang claimed that it had tested a nuclear warhead that can be fitted onto missiles. Its continued testing despite sanctions presents a severe challenge to Obama in the final months of his presidency and could become a factor in the US presidential election in November.
