N Korea faces new UN sanctions after nuclear test

The KRT bulletin shows North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un in a still from a recent video

The UN Security Council condemned North Korea's fifth nuclear test on Friday as a clear threat to international peace and security and said it will start discussing new "significant measures" against Pyongyang.

Security Council members "had previously expressed their determination to take further significant measures in the event of another nuclear test," said Gerard van Bohemen, New Zealand's ambassador to the UN, speaking in his capacity as president of the council. "The members of the Security Council will begin work immediately on appropriate measures."

The test may have shown North Korea overcoming what had been seen as hurdles to the further development of its nuclear weapons capabilities. The official Korean Central News Agency said the detonation showed the regime was now able to produce miniaturised nuclear arms and attach atomic weapons to rockets.

"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," KCNA said, using the acronym for North Korea. "This has definitely put on a higher level the DPRK's technology of mounting nuclear warheads on ballistic rockets."

Beyond the UN, the test drew opprobrium from world leaders including South Korean President Park Geun Hye and US President Barack Obama.

Park called the North Korean move "maniacal recklessness" and warned that Kim Jong Un's moves would lead to North Korea's self-destruction. Obama said the US "does not, and never will, accept North Korea as a nuclear state." Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said North Korea's actions were a threat to Japan and the country would consider further sanctions.

The blast set off an artificial earthquake around 9:30 am Seoul time, with the defence ministry saying the explosion was 10 kilotons. The United States Geological Survey put the quake magnitude at 5.3. The Pentagon said it will be deploying an aircraft to the region to collect air samples that can help determine the nature of the explosion.