The test provoked strong criticism from the worldwide community, including China, who firmly opposed it and summoned the North Korean ambassador in Beijing.
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Obama had been briefed on board Air Force One by National Security Adviser Susan Rice about reported seismic activity near North Korea’s nuclear test site earlier on Friday, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said.
The North also boasted that the test was of a nuclear warhead that could be mounted on a missile.
During a closed-door meeting on Friday, the council strongly condemned the test and agreed to begin drafting a new resolution under Article 41 of the United Nations charter, which provides for sanctions.
“The members of the Security Council also recalled that they had previously expressed their determination to take further significant measures in the event of a further nuclear test by the DPRK”. The UN Security Council agreed on Friday immediately to begin work on a new series of sanctions.
North Korea officially acknowledged that on September 9 it conducted a nuclear test, a move viewed as a provocation by its neighboring states and strongly condemned by the worldwide community.
South Korea’s president said the detonation, which Seoul estimated was the North’s biggest-ever in explosive yield, was an act of “fanatic recklessness” and a sign that leader Kim Jong Un “is spiraling out of control”.
The latest test was announced on state TV hours after a 5.3 magnitude tremor was detected near the Punggye-ri underground nuclear site.
China said radiation levels in the country were normal and neither the environment nor the health of its citizens was affected so far by the fifth nuclear test conducted by North Korea.
If so, Pyongyang has developed a unified design for nuclear weapons that could be used on a variety of its ballistic missiles, including Scuds, midrange Rodong and Musudan missiles, and submarine-launched missiles, said Kim Dae Young, a military expert at South Korea’s Korea Defense and Security Forum.
Scott Snyder, an analyst with the US-based Council on Foreign Relations, said that mentality had made China unwilling to take steps that might undermine Pyongyang’s survival. He is believed to have warned against lopsided measures against North Korea.
North Koreans gathered around public screens to watch the official announcement of the test.
More and stronger sanctions should be in place against North Korea as its nuclear capability has been upgraded in the past decade, South Korea’s top diplomat said Saturday, calling on the global community to make concerted efforts to put further pressure on the communist state.
China has always been under pressure to rein in its increasingly aggressive neighbour.
“We will be seeking China’s response to this”.
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Beijing strongly condemned the test.
