North Korea suspected to have conducted fifth nuclear test

Over that same period, the military has launched an unprecedented 21 ballistic missile launches – more than four times as many as North Korea had ever fired previously. This puts “on a higher level (the North’s) technology of mounting nuclear warheads on ballistic rockets”. “North Korea is seeking to flawless its nuclear weapons and their delivery vehicles so they can hold the region and the world hostage under threat of nuclear strikes”. The Joongang Ilbo newspaper recommended they should be armed with tactical nuclear weapons, as they were until the early 1990s. It has conducted a series of missile tests this year, including a submarine-launched missile.

The paper called her a “dirty prostitute” of foreign forces and said she was “groundlessly taking issue with the DPRK over its just measures for bolstering nuclear deterrence for self-defence”. Seoul and Washington announced in July the deployment of THAAD, which they say is necessary to counter the threat from the North.

North Korea carried out a large-scale nuclear test Friday – triggering an explosive response from President Obama. The United States, Britain and France pushed for the 15-member body to impose new sanctions. The North’s fourth test, in January, was an estimated 6 kilotons.

For a growing number of South Koreans, especially younger people, the notion of an armed confrontation triggered by an attack by North Korea has appeared increasingly remote over the years as the wealthy, democratic South and impoverished, isolated North have grown apart. The United States said it would do what is necessary to defend its Asian allies.

The protest came after North Korea’s fifth and most powerful nuclear test on Friday from its Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site, less than 100 kms from the country’s border with China. This means that Pyongyang likely can’t develop different warheads for different missiles. That is despite the North’s steady arms buildup, and South Korea’s requirement that every male serve in the military for a term that is now 21 months.

But Pyongyang also has a highly enriched uranium program, which is much more easily concealed and which outsiders know very little about; if that program is advanced, the North could have much more fuel for bomb-building.

“North Korea’s nuclear capability is growing and speeding to a considerable level, considering the fifth nuclear test was the strongest in scale and the interval has quickened substantially”, Yun told a ministry meeting convened to discuss the test.

This test, portrayed as an overwhelming success, could allow the North to turn more attention to its moribund economy and a population that often struggles to find enough to eat.

But since that measure was adopted, North Korea has carried out 21 ballistic missile launches, United States ambassador Samantha Power said.