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North Korea claims success in fifth and biggest nuclear test North Korea nuclear test: Kim Jong-un's military claims it can mount atomic warheads on missiles to strike 'enemies'
(about 11 hours later)
North Korea has said it has conducted its fifth “nuclear warhead explosion” test after an explosions caused an earthquake in the north-east of the country. North Korea has launched its largest ever nuclear test, generating global alarm with claims it is now able to mount atomic weapons on missiles for international strikes.
The North's test, which comes eight months after its previous such detonation, defies both tough international sanctions and long-standing diplomatic pressure to curb its nuclear ambitions.  The world united to condemn the display of “fanatic recklessness” by Kim Jong-un’s military, with even its closest allies denouncing the explosion, which triggered a magnitude 5 earthquake.
It was immediately branded an act of “fanatic recklessness” by South Korea with Pyongyang saying it the test was carried out in the face of growing US hostility. Fresh sanctions were the expected outcome of an emergency meeting called by the United Nations Security Council but analysts were quick to point out that such measures had done little in the past to quell North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.
It will raise serious worries in many world capitals that Pyongyang has moved another step closer to its goal of a nuclear-armed missile that could one day strike the US mainland.  State media claimed the experiment, carried out at a secretive underground facility, saw a nuclear warhead that could be “mounted on strategic ballistic rockets” was detonated.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye strongly condemned the test, saying in a statement that it showed the “fanatic recklessness of the Kim Jong-un government as it clings to nuclear development.” Kim is the North Korean leader.  “The standardisation of the nuclear warhead will enable the DPRK to produce at will and as many as it wants a variety of smaller, lighter and diversified nuclear warheads of higher strike power,” the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported
Park's office said she spoke with US President Barack Obama about the test Friday morning, during a regional summit in Laos. Park said South Korea will employ all available measures to put more pressure on North Korea, which has previously conducted nuclear tests every three to four years.  “The nuclear warhead explosion test is a demonstration of the toughest will of the Workers’ Party of Korea and the Korean people to get themselves always ready to retaliate against the enemies [including] the US-led hostile forces.”
The explosion put the region on edge.  Although it was impossible to verify the totalitarian regime’s claims, analysts at South Korea's weather agency said the explosive yield would have been 10 to 12 kilotons – almost as powerful as the 15-kiloton atomic bomb the US dropped on Hiroshima in 1945
Chinese state media reported that the nation's environmental protection agency started nuclear radiation monitoring. Japanese planes began to collect air samples from national air space to analyze possible radioactive materials. Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike said Japan's capital city is also testing water samples and monitoring radiation levels in the air.  The US Geological Survey’s analysis said it could be even stronger, nearing the strength of the even more devastating blast that destroyed Nagasaki.
South Korean and international monitors detected unusual seismic activity Friday morning near the North's northeastern nuclear test site. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that “artificial seismic waves” from a quake measuring 5.0 were detected near the Punggye-ri test site.  The explosion was the largest recorded in North Korea following previous tests in January this year, 2013, 2009 and 2006.
The South's Defense Ministry said it believed the North conducted a nuclear test, while European and US monitoring services also detected similar seismic activity, with the US Geological Survey calling it an “explosion” on its website.  It came on the 68th anniversary of the founding of the “Democratic People's Republic of Korea”, which was marked with huge state-organised dance performances in the capital.
A South Korean Defense Ministry official, who refused to be named because of office rules, said that Seoul detected an estimated explosive yield of 10 kilotonnes and assessed that it was from a nuclear test. After the North's fourth test, in January, South Korean lawmaker Lee Cheol Woo said Seoul's National Intelligence Service told him that an estimated explosive yield of six kilotonnes was detected.  South Korea's president, Park Geun-hye, called the test an act of “fanatic recklessness” and a sign that leader Kim “is spiralling out of control”, while Japan labelled North Korea an "outlaw nation".
The 5.0 magnitude earthquake Friday is the largest of the four past quakes associated with North Korean nuclear tests, according to South Korea's weather agency. Artificial seismic waves measuring 3.9 were reported after North Korea's first nuclear test in 2006; 4.8 was reported from its fourth test this January.  Both countries could be in range of a weapon mounted on medium-range Rodong missiles, which reached the Sea of Japan after provocative launches that coincided with the G20 summit on Monday. 
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has overseen a robust increase in the number and kinds of missiles tested this year. Not only has the range of the weapons successfully tested jumped significantly, but the country is working to perfect new platforms for launching them — submarines and mobile launchers.  But analysts cast doubt on North Korea’s claim to have successfully “miniaturised” a nuclear warhead to be carried by an intercontinental weapon capable of striking the US.
The longer ranges and mobile launchers give the North greater ability to threaten the tens of thousands of US troops stationed throughout Asia.  Barack Obama condemned Friday’s test as a ”grave threat“ to regional security and international peace and said he would work with partners on new sanctions against Pyongyang.
The seismic activity comes on the 68th anniversary of the founding of North Korea's government and just days after world leaders gathered in China for the G20 economic summit.  "To be clear, the United States does not, and never will, accept North Korea as a nuclear state," the President said.
Any test will lead to a strong push for new, tougher sanctions at the United Nations and further worsen already abysmal relations between Pyongyang and its neighbors.North Korea is already one of the most heavily sanctioned places on earth, and many question whether the penalties work.  "Today's nuclear test, a flagrant violation of multiple UN Security Council Resolutions, makes clear North Korea's disregard for international norms and standards for behaviour and demonstrates it has no interest in being a responsible member of the international community.”
China, the North's economic lifeline and only major ally, has previously offered cover to Pyongyang, though Beijing has expressed growing frustration with what outsiders call provocations.  He reiterated the American military’s commitment to deploy “Thaad” missile defence system to South Korea, which has also been blamed for increasing tensions in the region and citied as a threat by Pyongyang.
Pyongyang likely wanted to show the world that strong international sanctions following its fourth nuclear test and long-range rocket launch earlier this year haven't discouraged its efforts to advance its nuclear weapons and missiles programs, according to Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korea expert at Seoul's Dongguk University.  The International Atomic Energy Agency, Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organisation, Nato and European Union were among the organisations voicing their condemnation.
“It seems that the North has decided to play an 'end game' where they push things to see how far they can go. It's already being heavily sanctioned and there will be little room for any new sanctions that will meaningfully hurt them more,”' Koh said.  Even China, considered the closest ally of isolated North Korea, said it “resolutely opposes” the test and would launch a diplomatic protest, but also aimed criticism at the American military for “damaging regional strategic balance”. 
North Korea is thought to have a handful of rudimentary nuclear bombs and has spent decades trying to perfect a multistage, long-range missile to eventually carry smaller versions of those bombs.  The nuclear test appeared to boost Kim’s popularity among his people, beset by poverty, famine and a litany of human rights abuses and “unspeakable atrocities” condemned by a UN investigation.
After several failures, it put its first satellite into space with a long-range rocket launched in December 2012, and has since launched another such successful launch. Experts say that ballistic missiles and rockets in satellite launches share similar bodies, engines and other technology.  Rim Jong Su, a 42-year-old resident of Pyongyang, said: “It's really great news.
It's unclear whether North Korea has achieved the technology needed to manufacture a miniaturised nuclear warhead that could fit on a long-range missile capable of hitting the United States. Some analysts believe that the country has the ability to arm shorter range missile with warheads.  "Now, I am full of confidence that if the enemies make any little provocations we will make a counter attack and we will surely win."
In January, North Korea claimed to have conducted a hydrogen bomb test, but many foreign governments and experts were skeptical about the claim. After that test, some analysts said the country likely needed only a couple more test explosions before acquiring a miniaturised warhead that could be mounted on a long-range missile.  In Seoul, residents seemed largely unconcerned as they prepared to celebrate the Chuseok harvest festival.
North Korea's persistent pursuit of missiles and nuclear weapons has long been one of the most intractable foreign policy problems for US administrations.  Jung Yeon-su, 21, said: “People of my generation kind of doubt war will ever happen no matter what, so we tend to brush off something like this...you pay attention for a bit, but then you get numb after a while.”
On Tuesday, North Korea fired three medium-range Rodong missiles that traveled about 620 miles and landed near Japan. And last month, a missile from a North Korean submarine flew about 310 miles, the longest distance achieved by the North for such a weapon. This worried many South Koreans because submarine-based missiles are harder to detect before launch than land-based weapons.  While North Korea is known to have a small stockpile of nuclear warheads, experts have been divided about its ability to mount them on a working missile delivery system that could allow a long-range strike.
Diplomacy has so far failed to stop North Korea's progress. Six-nation negotiations on dismantling North Korea's nuclear programme in exchange for aid were last held in late 2008 and fell apart in early 2009, when North Korea was led by Kim Jong-un's father, Kim Jong-il, who died in late 2011.  If “miniaturisation” has been achieved, it will raise serious concern over the capability of the totalitarian government to realise years of threats aimed at the US and other enemies.
North Korea blames the United States and South Korea for its nuclear programme, saying long-running “hostility” from Seoul and Washington to its government makes the development crucial for the small country's survival.  But there is little scientific evidence to verify that North Korea has perfected the science of creating a nuclear bomb small enough to fit on a ballistic missile and withstand the physics of atmospheric re-entry.
Among Pyongyang's regular demands are for Washington to withdraw its troops from the region and to sign a peace treaty formally ending the Korean War. It also wants recognition as a nuclear weapons state.  Dr John Nilsson-Wright, head of the Asia Programme at Chatham House, said North Korea was previously thought to be two to three years away from miniaturising a weapon for long-range missiles.
The Korean Peninsula remains technically at war, as the 1950-53 conflict ended in an armistice. Washington stations more than 28,000 troops in South Korea as a buttress against any North Korean aggression. Tens of thousands more are in nearby Japan.  “What this has demonstrated is that the commitment of the North to develop its nuclear capabilities is as strong as ever – and that is why we should be worried,” he told The Independent.
Associated Press “We have to worry about the risk of a conflict…the options for the international community are getting narrower and narrower, and more and more unattractive.”
Tariq Rauf, director of the disarmament programme at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said it was an “inescapable reality” that North Korea will keep its nuclear weapons as a guarantor of its security.
 “It is time to understand that further economic pressure and coercion, economic rewards or military threats will not be successful in convincing North Korea to give up its nuclear-weapon programme, and may well have the opposite effect,” he added.
“International sanctions have not been successful against the DPRK, just as they have failed in the cases of India, Iran, Iraq, Libya and Pakistan. 
“The practical way forward must be direct negotiations between North Korea and the US on the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula and removal of sanctions in parallel with a composite strategic dialogue…that addresses the underlying security concerns of all sides.”
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