Pyongyang—North Korea said Friday its latest nuclear test had confirmed that it could mount a nuclear warhead on a rocket, hours after it carried out a fifth atomic explosion.
“The nuclear test finally… confirmed the structure and specific features… of a nuclear warhead that has been standardized to be able to be mounted on strategic ballistic rockets,” the state-run Korean Central News Agency said.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday called North Korea’s latest nuclear test “absolutely unacceptable.”
“North Korea’s carrying out of a nuclear test is absolutely unacceptable for Japan,” Abe said in a statement, after Pyongyang conducted its fifth nuclear test, believed to be its most powerful to date.
“North Korea’s nuclear development is becoming a graver threat to Japan’s safety and severely undermines the peace and safety of the region and the international community,” Abe said.
“Japan lodges a serious protest against North Korea and condemns it in the strongest language,” he added.
North Korea conducted a fifth nuclear test on Friday, an underground blast that Seoul quickly labeled its “most powerful to date.”
Seismologists detected a powerful artificial earthquake at 0030 GMT Friday, which they said was centered around Punggye-ri, North Korea’s nuclear test site.
South Korea says it believes the quake was caused by the testing of a nuclear device, with a yield of 10 kilotons. That would make it the most powerful of Pyongyang’s five nuclear tests to date.
The North Korean leadership says a credible nuclear deterrent is critical to the nation’s survival, claiming it is under constant threat from an aggressive United States.
It has always insisted it will continue testing, ignoring global condemnation and toughened UN sanctions. The four confirmed tests so far have resulted in artificial quakes of increasing size. Friday’s quake followed that pattern, registering 5.3 magnitude.
Seoul said the 10-kiloton yield was the “most powerful to date.”
“With each test they can learn a lot,” atomic scientist Siegfried Hecker said in January.
If Pyongyang can make a nuclear device small enough to fit on a warhead, and can bolster the range and accuracy of its missiles, it might one day achieve its oft-stated aim of hitting US targets.
Beijing has been North Korea’s main diplomatic supporter and protector for decades, shielding its errant ally from harsh international action.
But China’s seeming inability to rein in Kim Jong-Un is increasingly embarrassing for Beijing: the North’s latest missile tests this week came as China was hosting a G20 summit.
China’s nightmare scenario is that if the regime collapses, millions of hungry North Koreans might flood over its border—and the US-allied South would take over, meaning American troops could be stationed right on the Chinese border.
