UN Security Council to hold emergency talks on N Korea

9 tremor was experienced and the Pentagon said that it was “looking into reports of a possible seismic event near North Korea’s nuclear facilities”.

Japan will consider sanctions against North Korea as its nuclear test violates UN Security Council’s relevant resolutions, Abe said. “We will continue to protect and defend our allies in the region, including the Republic of Korea, and will respond appropriately to any and all North Korean provocations”, Price concluded his statement.

“Currently our military is strengthening our vigilance and surveillance posture against North Korea”, the Ministry of National Defence said in a statement carried by the Yonhap news agency. If confirmed, it would mark a major breakthrough in North Korea’s pursuit of nuclear weapons.

If North Korea’s claim is confirmed, it would massively raise the stakes around its banned nuclear program and likely trigger tougher worldwide sanctions.

The European Union was among the global bodies calling for North Korea to engage with the “Six-Party talks” working towards denuclearisation. “We strongly denounce it”, said Abe.

He said: ” It underlines the very real threat that North Korea represents to regional and global security.

Hydrogen bombs work by using radiation from a nuclear fission explosion to set off a fusion reaction, which in turn creates a powerful blast and radioactivity.

“The United States and Japan have requested emergency Security Council consultations for tomorrow morning regarding North Korea’s alleged nuclear test”, Hagar Chemali, spokeswoman for the US mission to the United Nations, said in a statement released to Reuters.

Last month, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said Pyongyang had developed a hydrogen bomb, although global experts were sceptical.

Nuclear tensions in east Asia have escalated after North Korea announced it had successfully tested its first hydrogen bomb.

“Now, the government should closely cooperate with the global community to make sure that North Korea pays the corresponding price for the nuclear test”, Park said in a National Security Council meeting.

South Korean lawmaker Lee Cheol Woo told reporters that the country’s spy agency told him in a private briefing that Pyongyang may not have conducted a hydrogen bomb test given the relatively small size of the seismic wave reported.

Federica Mogherini, the EU’s high representative for security, condemned the reported test as “illegal and unsafe behaviour” in violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions.

China is a close ally of the isolated state, but relations have become more strained in recent years, in part because of North Korea’s persistence with its nuclear programme in the face of global condemnation.