“In the wake of this test, there have been very strong words from South Korea but those kinds of strong words from the South or the UN Security Council or anyone else have so far done nothing to slow down what has been going on under the leadership of Kim Jong-un”.
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South Korea’s President Park Geun-Hye condemned the test as an act of “self-destruction” that would deepen the North’s isolation. The Japanese government has called senior ministry officials to a meeting at the prime minister’s office.
According to Yonhap, Park also held a telephone conversation with US President Barack Obama over the nuclear test.
If confirmed, it would be the North’s fifth nuclear test. Its continued testing despite sanctions presents a severe challenge to Obama in the final months of his presidency and could become a factor in the US presidential election in November.
“Sanctions have already been imposed on nearly everything possible, so the policy is at an impasse”, said Tadashi Kimiya, a University of Tokyo professor specializing in Korean issues.
Before the confirmation, Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reportedly said that evidence pointed to the possibility that the quake had not occurred naturally.
The meteorological agency detected a magnitude 5.3 shaking in North Korea, near the country’s nulear test facility. Japan has sent four jets to test for radiation.
South Korea’s Defense Ministry said today it could not immediately confirm the cause, and the country’s weather agency said it was analysing what might have happened.
North Korea tested its fourth nuclear device at the same site in January, causing a 5.1 magnitude quake.
The KCTV presenter said the test showed the nuclear warhead “has been standardized to be able to be mounted on strategic ballistic rockets”.
He added that it seems to have been the biggest test so far with a yield of 10 kt, compared to 6 kt in the previous test.
That would make it the most powerful of Pyongyang’s five nuclear tests to date.
The North first carried out its first nuclear test in 2006, the second in 2009, the third in 2013 and fourth in January.
Overnight, the iShares MSCI South Korea Capped ETF (EWY) fell 1.2%.
“We will continue to put some of the toughest pressure North Korea has ever been under as a outcome of this behavior”, Obama said.
Given the location of the quake, it is likely to have been the North’s fifth nuclear test, the second nuclear test this year, which is certain to draw heavy global condemnation and additional sanctions.
The US Geological Survey recorded a 5.3 seismic event at 9:30 a.m. local time near the test site in Sungjibaegam, a remote area about 375 miles northeast of Pyongyang. His press secretary, Josh Earnest, says Obama received the briefing aboard Air Force One from his national security adviser, Susan Rice.
“We are monitoring and continuing to assess the situation in close coordination with our regional partners”, an NSC statement said.NSC statement said.
The blast was reported to have occurred at a depth of zero kilometers in the vicinity of the Punggye-ri test site, suggesting the country has carried out its fifth nuclear test.
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Satellite images had shown new activity at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site in recent weeks, according to North Korea monitoring site 38North.
