North Korea carried out its fifth and possibly biggest ever nuclear test on Friday, Seoul said, triggering an quake measuring magnitude 5.0 and condemnation from neighbors. North Korea has conducted five nuclear tests so far in 2006, 2009, 2013, January of this year and now today. making this the third test under the reign of Kim Jong-un.
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North Korea says it has conducted a “nuclear warhead explosion” test meant to counter what Pyongyang calls US hostility.
Another Weibo user, living in Changbai Korean Autonomous County, in Jilin province, said she had felt a clear tremor this morning and her first thought was that North Korea had conducted another nuclear test.
North Korea has always insisted it will continue nuclear tests despite global condemnation and toughened sanctions.
South Korean President Park Geun Hye slammed the test as a provocation that would lead to further global sanctions and said Seoul would use “all possible measures” to force Pyongyang to give up its nuclear program.
The White House said the president “reiterated the unbreakable United States commitment to the security of our allies in Asia and around the world”.
It was North Korea’s fifth nuclear test and the blast was more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
Seoul was also quick to respond to the nuclear test, with President Park Geun-hye accusing North Korean leader Kim Jong-un of “maniacal recklessness” for pursuing nuclear weapons despite the severe United Nations sanctions already imposed on his country, Reuters reported.
Warning the young ruler’s obsession with creating a nuclear arsenal, Park said, “Kim Jong-Un’s regime will only earn more sanctions and isolation. and such provocation will further accelerate its path to self-destruction”.
A statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs quoted by AP said that China “resolutely opposes” the test and criticized Pyongyang for its “disregard” for worldwide sanctions.
The nuclear test comes just days after the Security Council met behind closed doors to discuss North Korea’s ballistic missile testing.
This test follows apparently ineffective UN Security Council sanctions after North Korea’s last test in January, which was half as strong as Thursday’s explosion.
At 20 to 30 megatonnes, Friday’s reported test is larger than the nuclear bomb dropped by the USA on the Japanese city of Hiroshima in the Second World War.
The MEP has also started radiation monitoring along China’s northeastern border.
DPRK state-run television reported earlier Friday that the country has conducted a nuclear warhead explosion test.
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A South Korean Defence Ministry official said Seoul detected an estimated explosive yield of 10 kilotons and assessed that it was from a nuclear test.
