It did not directly mention Friday’s nuclear test.
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Strongly condemning the test, the Council said it is a clear violation and in flagrant disregard of Security Council resolutions and of the non-proliferation regime and “therefore a clear threat to global peace and security continues to exist”.
She added: “We will take additional significant steps, including new sanctions to demonstrate to North Korea that there are consequences to its unlawful and risky actions”.
The United Nations Security Council denounced North Korea’s decision to carry out the test and said it would begin work immediately on a resolution.
The 15-member powerful United Nations body held urgent consultations here yesterday to address the “serious situation” arising from Korea’s atomic test – believed to be its most powerful ever.
The war-thirsty state’s media admitted the quake was caused by a nuke test, and warned that it can now mount a warhead on a ballistic missile.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye called the latest detonation an act of “fanatic recklessness” on the part of the government of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who has overseen three nuclear tests since he took power in late 2011.
Shock waves of magnitude 5.3 were detected near Punggye-ri about 9:30 a.m., according to an earlier statement from South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.
“Minister Reynders calls upon North Korea to immediately halt its illegal nuclear weapons program, in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner, to comply with worldwide obligations and to adopt concrete measures to restore regional trust and stability”.
China’s UN Ambassador Liu Jieyi told reporters that “all sides should refrain from mutual provocation and any action that might exacerbate the situation”.
Clinton also said that she would never accept the North as a nuclear power.
The samples of the radioactive materials are reportedly expected to prove helpful in understanding the composition of nuclear substances used the in the reclusive country’s latest test and whether Pyongyang used highly enriched uranium.
The move comes just months after the UNSC imposed its last set of economic restrictions against the North in March, following which the reclusive state carried on with a series of banned ballistic missile tests.
This week’s events pose yet another challenge for China, which has been under pressure to rein in its increasingly aggressive neighbor.
“China shares important responsibility for this development and has an important responsibility to reverse it”, he said.
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It was not clear whether Pyongyang had notified Beijing or Moscow of its planned nuclear test. So far, attempts to persuade China to use its influence have been fruitless.
