“This is. yet another shocking disturbance of peace in the region and a real threat to peace in the region”.
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South Korea accused the North’s leader, Kim Jong Un, of “fanatic recklessness”. She also said that they can’t deny the possibility that North Korea has the capability to mount a nuclear warhead on a missile.
International Business Times reported the country’s foreign ministry said U.S. President Barack Obama was “reckless” for calling the tests “provocative”.
United Nations sanctions of the past, created to limit trade with North Korea in order to cut funding for nuclear programs, have failed to suppress the military efforts of Pyongyang.
“The standardization of the nuclear warhead will enable [North Korea] to produce at will and as many as it wants a variety of smaller, lighter and diversified nuclear warheads of higher strike power”, the statement said.
The test, which came on the 68th anniversary of North Korea’s founding, “is yet one more example of Hillary Clinton’s catastrophic failures as secretary of state”, The Politico quoted Trump communications aide Jason Miller as saying. The flow of goods between the two countries has not dropped sharply since sanctions were imposed against North Korea in March.
The Security Council met at the request of Japan, South Korea and the United States to agree on a response, despite resistance from Pyongyang’s ally China to calls for tougher measures.
Tomomi Inada, Japan’s defence minister, said that the nuclear test represents a threat to Japan.
Lavrov was also emphatic about the necessity of Six Party nuclear talks, stalled since 2008, which may explain Russia’s suggestion of an alternative to current hardline policy approaches towards North Korea.
The UN has slammed North Korea with five sanctions since 2006 when Pyongyang detonated its first nuclear device, but none of them have had any effect.
He said the seismic magnitude and surface level indicated a blast with a 20- to 30-kilotonne yield or its largest to date.
The South Korean measurement would indicate a yield slightly smaller than the Little Boy at 10 kilotonnes, although calculating yield is hard and subject to the unknown variables in terrain and geology of the test site.
People watch a TV broadcasting a suspected nuclear test held by Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, at a train station in Seoul, South Korea, Sept. 9, 2016.
“Reducing tension on the Korean peninsula is one of the most serious issues in the world”, Ban said.
Ban told AP the answer should be for North Korea to change its attitudes, reverse course, work with the worldwide community which is calling for denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, and respect globally recognized international rules and principles.
Estimates of the explosive yield have varied with South Korea’s military claiming it was about 10 kilotonnes, while other experts have said that it may have been 20kt or more.
The blast is believed to be the fifth and largest since Pyongyang began pursuing nuclear and ballistic missile programs, drawing condemnation from the worldwide community.
He said that for nearly 10 years as United Nations chief, and before that as South Korea’s foreign minister, he had tried with “all my efforts.to talk with North Koreans in any way I can to promote peace and security and reconciliation between the South and the North”. South Korean Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn called an emergency meeting of the National Security Council. “We are monitoring and continuing to assess the situation in close coordination with our regional partners”, an NSC statement said. China says that THAAD is a threat to its own security and will do nothing to bring North Korea back to the negotiating table on its nuclear program.
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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.
