US President Barack Obama was immediately briefed following the detonation at the Pyunggye-ri nuclear test site and warned of “serious consequences” for the secretive state.
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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – North Korea said Friday it conducted a “higher level” nuclear warhead test explosion that will allow it to finally build “at will” an array of stronger, smaller and lighter nuclear weapons.
Satellite images had shown new activity at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site in recent weeks, according to North Korea monitoring site 38North.
“If North Korea has conducted a nuclear test, it is simply unacceptable”. The U.S. Geological Survey saw the tremor as a magnitude-5.3 quake.
The move comes against numerous calls from North Korea’s allies and antagonists to refrain from more “provocative acts” following January’s test and a February rocket launch.
In July, satellite images appeared to show high levels of activity at the country’s nuclear test site – and speculation has been growing that Kim Jong-un was planning a fifth test after the USA blacklisted him for human rights abuses.
North Korea claims to have tested a hydrogen bomb, though the USA and others weren’t so sure.
North Korea says the test shows the country is ready to hit back if provoked by enemies including the United States, and that it will continue its efforts to strengthen the quantity and quality of its nuclear weapons.
“While North Korea is testing nuclear weapons and carrying out these nuclear and ballistic tests their people are suffering”. Oh Soo-young, Arirang News.
Immediately after the artificial quake, South Korea’s military held an emergency video conference headed by JCS Chairman Lee Sun-jin and placed its military forces on full alert so Seoul could react “sternly and strongly” in case of further provocations from the North. The statement also included a plea to North Korea to not do anything that “worsens the situation”.
The Security Council in March imposed the toughest sanctions on North Korea in two decades, reflecting growing anger at Pyongyang’s nuclear test and rocket launch earlier this year in defiance of a ban on all nuclear-related activity.
“The 10-kiloton blast was almost twice the fourth nuclear test and slightly less than the Hiroshima bombing, which was measured about 15 kilotons”, said Kim Nam-Wook from the South’s meteorological agency.
Japan was quick to respond, with its Prime Minister Shinzo Abe saying North Korea’s additional nuclear test can never be tolerated and that if it turns out to be true, Japan cannot help but express strong protest.
China said on Friday it “firmly opposes” the test but it has limited room to manoeuvre, given its priority is to avoid a collapse of the regime that would create a crisis on its border and shift the balance of power on the Korean peninsula towards the US.
They also noted that much of the projected world growth in civil nuclear energy will occur in the Indo-Pacific region.
“The nuclear test finally”.
North Korea last conducted a nuclear test in January.
With the latest test, talk of heightening and expanding the current sanctions surely will begin. But whatever device the North detonated has likely put it a step closer toward its goal of developing a miniaturized warhead to be mounted on a long-range missile.
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South Korean soldiers wear North Korean flags on their helmets, playing a role of North Korean soldiers after the 66th Incheon Landing Operations Commemoration ceremony in Incheon, South Korea, Friday, Sept. 9, 2016.
