So far this year North Korea has pursued an aggressive weapon testing schedule.
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North Korea has been testing missiles at an unprecedented rate this year, and the capability to mount a nuclear warhead on a missile is especially worrisome for its neighbours South Korea and Japan. “This is in clear violation of numerous UN Security Council resolutions and in complete disregard of the repeated demands of the global community”.
The North Korean claim of being able to launch a nuclear attack seems accurate since they successfully conducted a test on a medium-range ballistic missile on Monday.
North Korea’s conducted a nuclear test today and, combined with advances made by the Pyongyang regime in mobile ballistic missile technology, posed a grave threat to Japan, Defence Minister Tomomi Inada said.
Leaders from South Korea, Japan, the USA and China condemned the nuclear test.
The council however did not specify what the “further significant measures” were.
The US National Security Council said it was aware of seismic activity in the region of the test site and was “monitoring and continuing to assess the situation in close coordination with our regional partners”.
Seismic activity, with a magnitude of 5.3, was detected around 9 a.m. local time (8:30 p.m. ET) near Punggye-ri, Kilju County – the same location as four other tests, the most recent of which was in January.
North Korea has conducted a nuclear explosion test aimed at examining the power of its nuclear warheads.
Abe told reporters Friday that North Korea’s actions were “absolutely not acceptable”.
Another resident of Seoul, Kim Moon-kyeong, says “North Korea’s nuclear provocation is such a silly act”.
South Korea’s weather agency said the explosive yield of the North Korean blast would have been 10 to 12 kilotons, or 70 to 80 percent of the force of the 15-kiloton atomic bomb the United States dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima in 1945.
Park spoke with President Obama and Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe about the test in separate phone calls, according to the Associated Press.
North Korea blames the US and South Korea for its nuclear programme, saying long-running “hostility” from Seoul and Washington to its government makes the development crucial for the small country’s survival.
Although the CTBTO have not confirmed the test is nuclear, Zerbo nonetheless said it was likely to be “another breach of a universally accepted norm”.
President Park Geun-Hye spoke out against the “maniacal recklessness” of Kim, who since taking control after the death of his father in 2011 has carried out a series of purges and weapons tests created to show strength and consolidate power.
But the announcement came hours after Seoul said Pyongyang had staged another atomic test in its Punggye-ri nuclear test site near the border with China. He added that the President would “ensure provocative actions from North Korea are met with serious consequences”, saying that Obama would be consulting American allies and partners as the situation unfolds.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye called North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un’s regime “fanatically reckless”, noting the test was in clear violation of the United Nations Security Council resolution.
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Park says South Korea will employ all available measures to put more pressure on North Korea.
