A South Korean government official said it was a suspected nuclear test, Yonhap reported, and Seoul called for an emergency National Security Council meeting.
Advertisement
The United States, Britain and France pushed the United Nations Security Council on Friday to impose new sanctions on North Korea over its fifth and biggest nuclear test as the 15-member council condemned the move by Pyongyang.
The test has triggered urgent United Nations talks and calls for new sanctions on North Korea just days after the country marked the 68th anniversary of its founding.
“Gone are the days, never to return, when the USA could make unilateral nuclear blackmail against the DPRK”, it added, using the abbreviation for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the country’s official title.
“China urges North Korea not to take any more actions that could exacerbate tensions, and return as soon as possible to the correct direction of denuclearization”, Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui told North Korea’s ambassador to China.
The latest test was announced on state TV hours after a 5.3 magnitude tremor was detected near the Punggye-ri underground nuclear site.
North Korea conducted its fifth nuclear test Friday, and all signs point to a weapons program of steadily increasing sophistication and power.
She added: “We will take additional significant steps, including new sanctions to demonstrate to North Korea that there are consequences to its unlawful and unsafe actions”.
In addition to January’s nuclear test, North Korea has tested a number of ballistic missiles, including some launched from a submarine last month and three more launched from land this week.
“We, along with the worldwide community, need to create a certain environment that strains North Korea inevitably, through stronger sanctions and pressures, and through strengthening restraints against North Korea, which the USA also agrees with”, Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se told the press.
North Korea has been joined by China in opposing the expanding US presence in the region, such as the forthcoming deployment of a new anti-missile system in the South known as THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense). He said he spoke to the leaders of South Korea and Japan by phone and that all three agreed to take additional significant steps including new sanctions. It characterized the Friday tests as a “higher-level” nuclear warhead explosion that would prepare the country to retaliate against any “provocation” by “U.S. -led hostile forces”.
On Friday, North Korea confirmed that it carried out the nuclear test as a response to global sanctions against the country for its nuclear tests and rocket launch earlier this year.
It was not clear whether Pyongyang had notified Beijing or Moscow of its planned nuclear test.
Advertisement
“The important thing is that, five tests in, they now have a lot of nuclear test experience”.
