The nuclear blast comes just four days after North Korea tested its long range missiles with a launch across the Sea of Japan.
Advertisement
North Korea’s latest nuclear test triggered diplomatic aftershocks in Asia – and a growing concern that the volatile regime in Pyongyang may pose the first big test for the next USA president.
North Korea’s persistent pursuit of missiles and nuclear weapons has always been one of the most intractable foreign policy problems for USA administrations.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) reported a 5.3 magnitude quake in North Korea, but later termed it an explosion.
North Korea is thought to have a handful of rudimentary nuclear bombs and has spent decades trying to ideal a multistage, long-range missile to eventually carry smaller versions of those bombs. “My deep fear is that they will launch a live nuclear weapon on one of their missiles, but that would be extremely risky as that could trigger a war”, said Melissa Hanham, a senior research associate at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies.
North Korea has been testing different types of missiles at an unprecedented rate this year, and the capability to mount a nuclear warhead on a missile is especially worrisome for neighbors South Korea and Japan.
North Korea has offered a chilling demonstration over the past month of its ability to deliver such warheads, using missiles that could strike Japan, South Korea and even US territory.
Obama reaffirmed, as he has done repeatedly following North Korean ballistic missile launches, the USA commitment to “take necessary steps to defend our allies in the region”, namely South Korea and Japan.
“North Korea stands out as the only country to have tested nuclear weapons this century”, Obama said.
China says that THAAD is a threat to its own security and will do nothing to bring North Korea back to the negotiating table on its nuclear programme.
The UN Security Council is set to hold a closed-door meeting on Friday afternoon on the latest nuclear test conducted by the DPRK.
South Korea President Park Geun-hye called the detonation an act of “maniacal recklessness”.
North Korea’s state-run television reported the country has “successfully” conducted a nuclear warhead explosion – its fifth and more powerful than it has earlier conducted – after monitors detected a 5.3-magnitude “artificial earthquake” near its main nuclear site this morning.
The blast had the explosive power of 10 kilotons, nearly twice as large as the previous test, said Kim Nam-wook of South Korea’s Meteorological Administration.
State media in the North also confirmed that the test had been successful.
Sanctions, including ones targeting the North Korean leader personally, have had little effect.
North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test in January, resulting in tough new United Nations sanctions.
North Korea has fired a total of 33 ballistic missiles since Kim Jong Un took power in 2011, Seoul’s Defense Ministry said.
By comparison, the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima was 15 kilotons.
While the claim from Kim’s regime that it has been able to miniaturize a nuclear warhead has not yet been independently verified, observers noted that it is becoming hard to imagine what else can be done to try and put an end to such tests.
“This constitutes a direct threat to the United States, and we can not and will never accept this”, she said.
Advertisement
The Korean Peninsula remains technically at war, as the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.
