nuclear-news

World anger at North Korea’s nuclear bomb test

North Korean nuclear tests spark global anger, ABC News 10 Sept 16  World powers have expressed outrage after North Korea claimed it had successfully tested a nuclear warhead that could be mounted on a missile, prompting urgent United Nations talks and calls for new sanctions.

South Korea, the United States, Australia, Japan, Russia and China all condemned the blast at the Punggye-ri nuclear site, the North’s fifth and most powerful yet at 10 kilotons.

At the United Nations, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the Security Council —set to discuss the issue later today — to take “appropriate action” after what he called a “brazen breach” of the council’s resolutions.

“The patience on our side and that of the international community has already reached its limit,” South Korean President Park Geun-Hye said, slamming the North’s young leader Kim Jong-Un for his “maniacal recklessness”.

The news drew swift condemnation from US President Barack Obama, who called the test “a grave threat to regional security and to international peace and stability” and vowed to push for new international sanctions……..

Pyongyang’s state media said the test, which comes after a series of ballistic missile launches, had realised the country’s goal of being able to fit a miniaturized warhead on a rocket.

“Our nuclear scientists staged a nuclear explosion test on a newly developed nuclear warhead at the country’s northern nuclear test site,” a North Korean TV presenter said.

First indications of an underground explosion came when seismic monitors detected a 5.3-magnitude “artificial earthquake” near the Punggye-ri nuclear site.

“The 10-kiloton blast was nearly twice the [power of the] fourth nuclear test and slightly less than the Hiroshima bombing, which was measured about 15 kilotons,” said Kim Nam-Wook of the South’s meteorological agency.

But attention soon shifted from the blast’s power to Pyongyang’s claim that it was a miniaturised warhead.

If Pyongyang can make a nuclear device small enough to fit on a rocket — and bolster the range and accuracy of its missiles — it might achieve its oft-stated aim of hitting US targets. But its past claims to have achieved that have been discounted.

Pyongyang routinely insists Washington is on the verge of launching all-out war against it.

Outside experts said authenticating North Korea’s claim to have mastered miniaturisation would be difficult using seismic data alone.

“We would need to see it tested on a missile, like China did in the 1960s,” said Melissa Hanham, a North Korea expert at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies.

“Nobody wants to see that. There is no way they could do that test in a safe way, and it could easily start a war.”

China under pressure

North Korea has been hit by five sets of United Nations sanctions since it first tested a nuclear device in 2006, but has insisted it will continue come what may.

The nuclear program has accompanied a series of ballistic missile launches, the latest of which took place on Monday as world powers gathered for a G20 meeting in China.

This week’s events pose yet another challenge for Pyongyang’s chief ally, China, which has been under pressure to rein in its increasingly aggressive neighbour. Beijing said on Friday it “firmly opposes” the test, but it has limited room to manoeuvrer. Its priority is to avoid the regime’s collapse, which would create a crisis on its border and shift the balance of power on the Korean peninsula toward the United States……http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-09-10/north-korea-condemed-for-nuclear-tests/7832810

September 10, 2016 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | North Korea, weapons and war