North Korea insists that its missile and nuclear tests are necessary to counter what it says is a USA nuclear threat to its independence.
Advertisement
North Korea conducted its fifth nuclear test Friday, and all signs point to a weapons program of steadily increasing sophistication and power.
Pyongyang has carried out two nuclear tests this year despite the United Nations ban.
Russian Federation has urged all parties to remain calm and not to escalate the already tense situation, with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stressing that the UN Security Council resolutions “must be observed”, while saying that Moscow is “very concerned about the test”.
“As North Korea is saying publicly, they now have nuclear bombs mounted on missiles that can destroy our cities and they are proving it by all kinds of tests”.
“The enemies can no longer deny the strategic position of our country as a nuclear weapons state.”
French envoy to the François Delattre said the latest nuclear test by North Korea is more than a grave provocation. China is North Korea’s strongest political ally and economic lifeline.
The test provoked strong criticism from the worldwide community, including China, who firmly opposed it and summoned the North Korean ambassador in Beijing.
Members of the United Nations from the US, South Korea, Japan, Russia and China held an urgent meeting yesterday to discuss how to respond to Pyongyang’s nuclear test, which triggered a whopping 5.3 magnitude quake.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye said late Friday that Kim was “mentally out of control”, and added: “The patience of global community has come to the limit”.
The UN Security Council has agreed to begin drawing up new sanctions against North Korea over its fifth and reportedly biggest nuclear test.
“We will take additional significant steps, including new sanctions to demonstrate to North Korea that there are consequences to its unlawful and unsafe actions”, Power said.
“Gone are the days never to return when the USA could make a unilateral nuclear blackmail against the [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea]”, the paper said. Pyongyang’s claims of being able to miniaturize a nuclear warhead have never been independently verified.
North Korea’s continued testing despite sanctions presents a severe challenge to Obama in the final months of his presidency and could become a factor in the USA presidential election in November.
Advertisement
For context, the USA nuclear bomb on Hiroshima in 1945 had a yield of about 15 kilotonnes.
