Satellite imagery shows North Korea's test site. [Yonhap News Photo]
The fifth nuclear test upgraded North Korea's ability to produce diversified and powerful atomic bombs at will, a government agency in charge of developing nuclear weapons said in a statement carried by Pyongyang's state media.
With Friday's nuclear test, North Korea is fully capable of fighting back against any threats and sanctions spearheaded the United States and its allies, the North's nuclear weapons institute said.
"The nuclear test finally examined and confirmed the structure and specific features of movement of a nuclear warhead that has been standardized to be able to be mounted on strategic ballistic rockets," it said.
It was the strongest-ever detonation that caused an artificial magnitude 5 earthquake with its explosive yield estimated at 10 kilotons, South Korean military authorities said. The yield of North Korea's last test on January 4 stood at five kilotons.
US President Barrack Obama aboard his presidential plane had an emergency 15-minute telephone conference with South Korean President Park Geun-hye, Park's said, adding the two leaders agreed to punish Pyongyang with stronger pressure and sanctions.
Obama pledged to take all measures including Washington's "extended deterrence" involving the nuclear umbrella to protect South Korea from a nuclear threat, the presidential office said.
Separately, Park blasted the recklessness of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, warning Pyongyang would face "much stronger" sanctions and hasten its collapse. She was in Laos, the last leg of her three-nation trip that also took her to Russia and China.
The fifth nuclear test was carried out at North Korea's northeastern test site in Punggye-ri in which detonations were reported in 2006, 2009 and 2013. South Korea's defense ministry has said Pyongyang could conduct a conventional nuclear test or the underground detonation of a warhead without the use of nuclear materials.
North Korea's nuclear and long-range rocket tests triggered tough UN sanctions this year, but Kim Jong-un has vowed to step up the development of atomic bombs and rockets capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
Pyongyang said in Friday's statement that the standardization of a nuclear warhead will enable it to produce as many "smaller, lighter and diversified" nuclear weapons as it wants. "This has definitely put on a higher level technology of mounting nuclear warheads on ballistic rockets."
Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
