A South Korean defense ministry spokesman said that an unused tunnel at the test site could be used for a sixth test at any time, the BBC reported.
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North Korea in a latest statement said the test was of a “nuclear warhead that has been standardised to be able to be mounted on strategic ballistic rockets”.
It was the fifth that North Korea has done and the most powerful to date.
The Security Council denounced the latest test and said it would begin work immediately on a resolution. The U.N. Security Council is strongly condemning North Korea’s l.
The US special envoy for North Korea, Sung Kim, said: “In addition to action in the Security Council, both the US and Japan, together with the Republic of Korea, will be looking at unilateral measures, as well as bilateral measures, as well as possible trilateral cooperation”.
South Korea has previously avoided harsh rhetoric against North Korea and its leader Kim Jong Un but after Friday’s nuclear test, South Korean President Park Geun-hye said Kim’s “mental state is spiraling out of control” and that his government has “fanatic recklessness”.
China has said it “firmly opposes” the test, but analysts believe Beijing wants to avoid a collapse of North Korea in order to prevent the balance of power on the Korean peninsula from leaning towards the US.
South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported that bad weather had delayed a planned USA military B-1B bomber flight to the Korean peninsula that had been scheduled for Monday.
The government in Seoul will take “all diplomatic and military efforts to counter North Korea’s continued provocation”, senior presidential secretary for foreign affairs Kim Kyou-Hyun told reporters on Sunday.
Another KCNA report yesterday said North Koreans were “delighted” by the nuclear test.
Ri is reportedly expected to continue traveling to Venezuela for the Non-Aligned Movement Summit before visiting NY for the UN General Assembly later this month.
Most worryingly for the global community, the North claimed it had been a miniaturised warhead that could be mounted on a missile.
South Korea’s military said it was about 10 kilotonnes, enough to make it the North’s “strongest nuclear test ever”. The announcement by Seoul came as North Korea was thought to prepare for another launch.
The USFK said the scheduled flight of the bombers will take place Tuesday morning over the US air base.
South Korea’s defense ministry said there was no change in its policy barring nuclear weapons.
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North Korea’s pursuit of missiles and nuclear weapons is one of the most intractable foreign policy problems for the USA and South Korea.
