North Korea nuclear test: South would ‘decimate’ Pyongyang

The fifth nuclear test on Friday, according to Korean media: “carried out a nuclear explosion test for the judgment of the power of a nuclear warhead”.

The sanctions also included a ban on North Korea exporting most of the country’s natural resources with coal alone estimated to be worth $1 billion in annual income, according to Samantha Power, the USA ambassador to the UN.

He says there has been rising criticism within South Korea of the government as its attempts to isolate the North have failed to deter leader Kim Jong-un’s nuclear ambitions.

The U.N. said North Korea demonstrated a “clear violation” as well as a “flagrant disregard of existing council resolutions”.

United Nations Security Council president Ramlan Bin Ibrahim has previously condemned the military actions taken by North Korea.

“We strongly urge North Korea to keep its promise of denuclearization, comply with the related decisions made by the U.N. Security Council, and not to take any action to deteriorate the situation”.

“Eliminate Kim Jong-Un!” and “Destroy North Korea’s nuclear weapons!” the elderly activists shouted.

Combine that with everything scientists have learned from the four previous tests and North Korea may now have nuclear weapons capable of attacking its Asian neighbors, said nuclear expert Whang Joo-ho of Kyung Hee University in South Korea.

After Pyongyang carried out its fourth nuclear test, the council in March adopted the toughest sanctions resolution to date, targeting North Korea’s trade in minerals and tightening banking restrictions.

“The enemies can no longer deny the strategic position of our country as a nuclear weapons state.”

“In other words, the North’s capital city will be reduced to ashes and removed from the map”, the source said.

In a meeting in Seoul on Saturday, South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se said that Friday’s test showed that North Korea’s nuclear capacity has reached a “considerable level” after quickly progressing in the past 10 years. However, the speed with which North Korea is modernizing its nuclear and missile programme through indigenous research and development could one day present formidable threat.

Friday’s test came only eight months after the previous one and was nearly twice as powerful, at an estimated 10 kilotons.

The South has no atomic weapons of its own and shelters under the nuclear “umbrella” of its U.S. ally, which stations 28,500 troops in South Korea.

The statement came two days after the DPRK’s announcement that it had successfully carried out a nuclear warhead explosion, which marked its fifth nuclear test after Pyongyang conducted what it called a hydrogen-bomb test on January 6.