Seismic activity shakes North Korea, raising fears of Pyongyang nuclear testing

THE UN will impose fresh sanctions against North Korea, condemning its latest nuclear test as a “clear violation” of previous resolutions.

N Korea faces new UN sanctions

THE UN Security Council has pledged to pursue new sanctions against North Korea, condemning its latest nuclear test as a “clear violation” of previous resolutions.

The Security Council held an emergency meeting after North Korea claimed it had successfully conducted a test of a miniaturised hydrogen nuclear device on Wednesday morning.

The sanctions are aimed at reining in the North’s nuclear missile development, but Pyongyang has ignored them and moved ahead with programs to modernise its ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons. The sanctions would be the fifth round imposed on the Asian nation since the country’s first nuclear test in 2006.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the test “deeply troubling” and “profoundly destabilising for regional security”.

“This test once again violates numerous Security Council resolutions despite the united call by the international community to cease such activities,” he said. “It is also a grave contravention of the international norm against nuclear testing. I demand the DARK (North Korea) cease any further nuclear activities and meet its obligations for verifiable denuclearisation.”

The test marks another big step toward Pyongyang’s goal of building a warhead that can be mounted on a missile capable of reaching the US mainland.

MORE: What does the nuclear test mean for North Korea?

What was felt ... officers from the Korea Meteorological Administration point at the epicentre of seismic waves in North Korea, after it claimed to conduct a powerful hydrogen bomb test. Picture: AP

The head of the UN Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organisation says its monitors are looking for a smoking gun that will confirm that North Korea carried out a nuclear test — and whether it was a hydrogen bomb as Pyongyang claims.

Lassina Zerbo said over 30 international monitoring stations detected Wednesday’s unusual seismic event on the Korean peninsula which was similar to North Korea’s last nuclear test in 2013.

Mr Zerbo said the organisation needs some time to detect radioisotopes released from an underground test and that there is no way to determine whether a hydrogen bomb was detonated without that information. He said it took over 50 days to detect radioisotopes venting from North Korea’s previous test.

IAEA Director General released statement on North Korea’s (#DPRK) announced #nuclear test: https://t.co/LDNgUhrtgg pic.twitter.com/c8x27Ud9aJ

— IAEA (@iaeaorg) January 6, 2016

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said Australia will work with other countries to put pressure on North Korea to end its “provocative behaviour”, describing the regime’s actions as a threat to international peace and security.

“We will continue to work with partners and allies, and the rest of the international community to place pressure on North Korea so it stops this provocative behaviour,” she told the Nine Network.

French President Francois Hollande said that “France condemns this unacceptable violation of Security Council resolutions and calls for a strong reaction from the international community.”

China, North Korea’s closest ally, says the test was carried out in defiance of the international community and urged North Korea to refrain from acts that might worsen tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

The foreign ministry of Russia, also a permanent Security Council member, denounced the test as a “flagrant violation of international law and existing UN Security Council resolutions”.

“Such actions are fraught with the possibility of aggravating the situation on the Korean peninsula, which already has a very high potential for military and political confrontation,” it said.

Nuclear aspirations ... North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has been open about his love of nuclear weapons. Picture: AP

Speaking in Beijing, Britain’s Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said the test was “a grave breach of UN Security Council resolutions and a provocation”.

South Korea’s President Park Geun-hye convened an emergency national security council meeting and vowed a tough response.

Park said at the start of the meeting that the government “must get North Korea to face corresponding measures based on closed co-operation with the international community.”

She said: “It’s not only grave provocation of our national security, but also an act that threatens our lives and future. It’s also a direct challenge to world peace and stability.”

Against the test ... Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying speaks as North Korea's main ally "firmly opposes" Pyongyang's purported hydrogen bomb test. Picture: AP

Park also ordered the military to bolster its combined defence posture with the US military, saying South Korea will sternly deal with any additional provocation by North Korea.

She called for a swift, accurate analysis on the North’s claim to have conducted a hydrogen bomb test.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared North Korea’s hydrogen bomb test a threat to his nation’s safety.

“We absolutely cannot allow this, and condemn it strongly,” Abe said.

He called it a violation of the UN Security Council agreements that is against the global efforts toward nuclear disarmament.

Abe said he will take “strong action,” and work with other nations, the US, South Korea, China and Russia, as well as through the UN.

Ready for war ... a mass rally in response North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang. Picture: AFP

The US Geological Survey placed the explosion at a location 19km east-northeast of Sungjibaegam and 376km north east of the capital, Pyongyang.

The agency measured the magnitude of the resulting seismic activity at 5.1.

An official from the Korea Metrological Administration, South Korea’s weather agency, said it believed the earthquake was caused artificially based on their analysis of the seismic waves and that it originated 49 kilometres north of Kilju, the northeastern area where North Korea’s main nuclear test site is located.

The country conducted all three previous atomic detonations there.

Meetings ... Japan's Defence Minister Gen Nakatani arrives at the Prime Minister's official residence in Tokyo following reports of seismic activity in North Korea. Picture: Kyodo/AP

North Korea conducted its third nuclear test in February 2013.

Pyongyang is thought to have a handful of crude nuclear weapons. The US and its allies worry about North Korean nuclear tests because each new blast brings the country closer to perfecting its nuclear arsenal.

Since the elevation of young leader Kim Jong-un in 2011, North Korea has ramped up angry rhetoric against the leaders of allies Washington and Seoul and the US-South Korean annual military drills it considers invasion preparation.

Measuring up ... Yun Won-Tae, an Earthquake and Volcano of the Korea Meteorological Administration Director General stands in front of a screen showing seismic waves that were measured in Seoul, South Korea. Picture: Getty