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| North Korea confirms third nuclear test | North Korea confirms third nuclear test |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| North Korea says it has successfully carried out its third underground nuclear test, in a widely-anticipated move set to draw international condemnation. | |
| Pyongyang said the test involved a "miniaturised" device and was carried out in a "perfect manner". | |
| The confirmation came three hours after seismic activity was detected at North Korea's nuclear test site. | The confirmation came three hours after seismic activity was detected at North Korea's nuclear test site. |
| The UN had warned of "significant consequences" if Pyongyang went ahead. | |
| UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has condemned the test as a "clear and grave violation" of UN resolutions and a "deeply destabilising" provocation. | |
| The Security Council is to hold an emergency meeting at 14:00 GMT on Tuesday in New York, diplomats say. | |
| 'High level' | |
| North Korea previously conducted nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009. It announced in January that it would conduct a third as a response to UN sanctions expanded after its December rocket launch. | |
| Confirmation of the test came in a statement from state-run KCNA news agency. | |
| "It was confirmed that the nuclear test that was carried out at a high level in a safe and perfect manner using a miniaturised and lighter nuclear device with greater explosive force than previously did not pose any negative impact on the surrounding ecological environment," KCNA said. | |
| The reference to "miniaturised" is likely to alarm observers. The US and North Korea's neighbours fear Pyongyang's ultimate goal is to produce a device small enough to fit on a long-range missile. | |
| In December it put a satellite into space using a three-stage rocket - a move condemned by the UN as a banned test of missile technology. | |
| Monitoring agencies from several nations had detected seismic activity at the Punggye-ri underground nuclear test site at 11:57 (02:57 GMT). | |
| A shallow earthquake with a magnitude of 4.9 was recorded, the US Geological Survey said. | |
| Both South Korea and Japan convened emergency meetings of their national security teams shortly afterwards. | |
| "This is an unacceptable threat to the security of the Korean peninsula and northeast Asia and a challenge to the whole international community," South Korea's presidential national security adviser Chun Young-woo said. | |
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