North Korea confirmed, Friday, it had done a fifth nuclear test. In a statement published on the Korean Central News Agency website, North Korea announced that it is now capable of mounting nuclear warheads on ballistic rockets.
Hours before the statement, international media had reported a powerful explosion in the country.
“The standardization of the nuclear warhead will enable the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) to produce at will and as many as it wants a variety of smaller, lighter and diversified nuclear warheads of higher strike power,” said the statement (#this ) from Pyongyang.
World leaders condemned the test that South Korea president Park Geun-hye as ‘maniacal recklessness.’
US president said Pyongyang would be punished for the latest test without giving details.
The UN nukes agency, IAEA, in a statement said the latest test violated Security Council resolutions.
“This is in clear violation of numerous UN Security Council resolutions and in complete disregard of the repeated demands of the international community. It is a deeply troubling and regrettable act.
“In Resolution 2270, the Security Council condemned in the strongest terms the DPRK’s previous nuclear test conducted on 6 January this year.
“The Security Council also reaffirmed its decisions that the DPRK shall not conduct any further nuclear tests and shall abandon all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programmes in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner, and immediately cease all related activities.”
But China’s foreign ministry called for restraint from world leaders in dealing with the test saying that there was no need for chaos in the region. China is North Korea’s main ally in the region.
“France vigorously condemns the new nuclear test that was conducted last night by North Korea and calls the United Nations’ security council to take up this violation of its resolutions,” said a statement from the France President’s office.
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