The United States called on China to put pressure on North Korea to end its nuclear programme after Pongyang conducted its fifth and biggest nuclear test.
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Washington is also working with Seoul to install a missile defense system known as THAAD in South Korea, though the move has infuriated Beijing, which says the hardware poses a significant threat to regional security.
“Rather than pursuing nuclear weapons and ballistic missile technology, the DPRK should be promoting the well-being of the country’s people”, Ban added, emphasizing that the test endangered peace and security in the region and was a “reminder of the urgent need to strengthen the global nuclear test ban regime”.
Earlier Friday, US President Barack Obama spoke to South Korean President Park Geun-hye and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who agreed to work with the United Nations body to enforce “additional significant steps, including new sanctions”.
Speaking to reporters only a day earlier in Vientiane, where he attended the Asean summits, Mr Abe had said strong pressure from the worldwide community was the only way to stop North Korea from conducting missile and nuclear tests and called for economic sanctions to be implemented “strictly”.
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Donald Trump’s campaign insisted on Friday that Hillary Clinton somehow bears responsibility for North Korea’s latest nuclear weapons test.
North Korea has conducted a slew of long-range and medium-range ballistic missile tests this year that show they are improving their missile capabilities.
China opposed North Korea’s nuclear test, a key denunciation by the North’s economic lifeline and only major ally. It will raise serious worries in many world capitals that North Korea has moved another step closer to its goal of a nuclear-armed missile that could one day strike the USA mainland.
To be clear, the United States does not, and never will, accept North Korea as a nuclear state.
“North Korea is single-minded in achieving the status and capability of a nuclear country”, said Dr Bong Young Shik, a research fellow at Yonsei University’s Institute for North Korean Studies.
Mr Carter said the global community should redouble pressure on North Korea after the test, on the 68th anniversary of North Korea’s founding, and singled out China’s influence.
It was the fifth Security Council resolution imposing sanctions on the North. Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike said Japan’s capital city is also testing water samples and monitoring radiation levels in the air.
The united front presented by the United States and its regional allies does not have the weight that strong criticism from China would have on North Korea.
He said the seismic magnitude and surface level indicated a blast with a 20- to 30-kilotonne yield.
“This suggests a marked improvement in North Korea’s nuclear capabilities”, he said, urging a united global response from countries including the United States, China, South Korea and Russian Federation.
“The important thing is that five tests in, they now have a lot of nuclear test experience”. According to Pollack, this test gives no indication that North Korea is looking to launch an offensive.
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“We know what they’ve claimed that they’ve miniaturized”, said Captain Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman.
