The UN Security Council has agreed to begin drawing up new sanctions against North Korea over its fifth and reportedly biggest nuclear test. The 15-member body would take “significant measures” against the isolated nation.
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The North’s fifth nuclear test proved the country’s leader Kim Jong-un’s “maniacal recklessness” in completely ignoring the world’s call to abandon his pursuit of nuclear weapons, Ms Park was quoted as saying by her office.
But in response the ruling party’s newspaper Rodong Sinmun said: “Gone are the days never to return when the U.S. could make a unilateral nuclear blackmail against the DPRK”.
Matthew Rycroft, British ambassador the United Nations, recommended a series of steps the council can take in response to North Korea’s test on nuclear weapons.
Gerard van Bohemen said the council was now working on what measures it could take in response.
“Today’s nuclear test, a flagrant violation of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions, makes clear North Korea’s disregard for global norms and standards for behavior and demonstrates it has no interest in being a responsible member of the worldwide community”.
Pyongyang hailed Friday’s test as taking the North to “a higher level” through enhanced warhead capabilities, while vowing to carry on with its nuclear development.
Christopher Hill, the former United States ambassador to South Korea, said Friday it’s time to stop guessing about North Korea’s capabilities and start planning a response.
It was condemned by the United States, which said it would work with partners to impose new sanctions on North Korea, and also by China, Pyongyang’s main ally.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said in a statement that a suspected nuclear test by North Korea “could not be tolerated”, according to Reuters. “We need a commander-in-chief committed to a bipartisan foreign policy, who can bring together top experts with deep experience to solve the toughest challenges”, she said.
North Korea has been subject to sanctions since 2006 but the impoverished country has, nevertheless, continued to develop its nuclear programme.
Kim Jong-Un’s rule has been erratic and brutal, and the availability of weapons able to kill thousands of people in seconds make a lethal combination against the world and South Korea, a country that’s still warring against its northern counterpart.
North Korea conducted its fourth underground nuclear test earlier this year.
The Sept. 9 test was apparently timed to coincide with North Korea’s Foundation Day.
Could North Korea actually put a nuclear warhead atop a rocket and fire it at a potential adversary?
In recent months, the North has conducted a series of ballistic missile launches and has in the past often stated its aim of hitting U.S. targets.
But attention soon shifted from the power of the blast to Pyongyang’s claim that it was a miniaturised warhead.
Despite a number of failed missile tests this year, North Korea’s nuclear ambitions have barely been mentioned in this year’s US presidential race. “It would be hard for Japan, China, the United States, to know that it was a test and not the real thing”.
Initial analysis of North Korea’s January test estimated a yield of just 6 kilotons.
Ban has condemned the test and urged the Security Council, “to unite and take urgent actions”.
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Speaking to reporters in Micronesia, Mr Turnbull said the UN Security Council had already considered eight breaches by North Korea before Friday’s test. The 10-kiloton test detected from the Punggye-ri nuclear facility had created “artificial seismic waves” and triggered a quake measuring 5.3 on the Richter scale.
