North Korea said it has carried out a successful "nuclear warhead explosion" test to counter what it called US hostility, North Korean state TV reported, angering neighbours and the United States
An undated file photo shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un inspecting a test-fire of strategic submarine-launched ballistic missile
Seoul: North Korea said it has carried out a successful "nuclear warhead explosion" test to counter what it called US hostility, North Korean state TV reported, angering neighbours and the United States. This is the fifth nuclear test — second in eight months — that has been carried out by North Korea and drew immediate condemnation from the South, which said the "maniacal recklessness" of young ruler Kim Jong-Un would lead to "self-destruction".
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Even as South Korea reported a 5.3-magnitude seismic event, Pyongyang's state media said the test, which comes after a series of ballistic missile launches that have also drawn international condemnation and UN sanctions, had achieved its goal of being able to fit a miniaturised nuclear warhead on a rocket.
"Our nuclear scientists staged a nuclear explosion test on a newly developed nuclear warhead at the country's northern nuclear test site," a North Korean TV announcer said. "Our... party sent a congratulatory message to our nuclear scientists... for conducting the successful nuclear warhead explosion test," she said as the South judged it was the North's biggest test yet at 10 kilotons. It has even been claimed that the test was bigger than Hiroshima.
President Park Geun-Hye said, "Kim Jong-Un's regime will only earn more sanctions and isolation...and such provocation will further accelerate its path to self-destruction." If Pyongyang can bolster the range and accuracy of its missiles, it might achieve its aim of hitting US targets. Other countries like Japan, China and Pakistan have also condemned the test and called them "absolutely unacceptable" and registered an official protest against it.
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