North Korean 'Hydrogen Bomb' Test To Bring Fifth Round Of UN Sanctions Against Pariah State

UN To Impose FIFTH Round Of Sanctions On North Korea Over 'H-Bomb'
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The United Nations promised to impose fresh sanctions on North Korea on Wednesday after Pyongyang carried out its fourth nuclear test.

The UN has already imposed four rounds of sanctions on the pariah state, which carried out its first nuclear explosion in 2006. Those restrictions were intended to rein in North Korea’s stated aim of creating a nuclear warhead small enough to be carried by one of its ballistic missiles.

However the country has ignored the international community, forging ahead with its nuclear weapons programme. Pyongyang said Wednesday’s explosion was its first “successful hydrogen bomb test.

Experts remain skeptical as to the nature of the blast, whether fission or fusion. According to AP, South Korean spies contend the yield from the explosion was much less than that of a H-bomb.

In Washington, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said data from the blast was “not consistent with North Korean claims of a successful hydrogen bomb test.”

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A television screen at Seoul Station shows a broadcast on North Korea's nuclear test on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2015

However, speaking to the Washington Post, James Acton, co-director of the nuclear policy program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said: “Regardless of whether this is a hydrogen test or a normal, vanilla device, this is a very serious provocation.”

The Security Council said work on a fifth round of sanctions would begin immediately due to "the gravity of this violation."

British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft Rycroft called the test indicative of Pyongyang's "reckless challenge to international norms of behavior and the authority of the UN Security Council," while UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, a former South Korean foreign minister, called North Korea's announcement "profoundly destabilising for regional security."

However, the severity of the UN sanctions, which would likely target more members of the Korean regime by limiting their ability to travel, will depend on China, North Korea’s closest ally.

Reacting to the blast, China’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said the Beijing "firmly opposes this.” “We urge North Korea to fulfill its promise of denuclearisation and stop any actions that would worsen the situation,” the ministry said in a statement.

North Korea 'Hydrogen Bomb' Test
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Japan's meteorological agency officer Yohei Hasegawa displays a chart showing seismic activity, (at L top is today's observation result, observed in China) after a North Korean nuclear test, at the agency in Tokyo on January 6, 2016. (credit:YOSHIKAZU TSUNO via Getty Images)
(02 of17)
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People watch a news report on North Korea's first hydrogen bomb test at a railroad station in Seoul on January 6, 2016. South Korea 'strongly' condemned North Korea's shock hydrogen bomb test and vowed to take 'all necessary measures' to penalise its nuclear-armed neighbour. (credit:JUNG YEON-JE via Getty Images)
(03 of17)
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A South Korean army soldier watches a TV screen showing a file image of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
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A TV screen shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at an electronics store in Tokyo, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
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North Koreans react as they watch a news broadcast on a video screen outside Pyongyang Railway Station in Pyongyang, North Korea, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
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A man watches a news report at a railroad station in Seoul on January 6, 2016, after seismologists detected a 5.1 magnitude tremor next to North Korea's main atomic test site in the northeast of the country. (credit:JUNG YEON-JE via Getty Images)
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South Korean watch a television broadcast reporting the North Korea's Hydrogen Bomb Test at the Seoul Railway Station on January 6, 2016 in Seoul, South Korea. (credit:Chung Sung-Jun via Getty Images)
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People watch a news report on North Korea's first hydrogen bomb test at a railroad station in Seoul on January 6, 2016. (credit:JUNG YEON-JE via Getty Images)
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People watch a news report on North Korea's first hydrogen bomb test at a railroad station in Seoul on January 6, 2016. South Korea 'strongly' condemned North Korea's shock hydrogen bomb test and vowed to take 'all necessary measures' to penalise its nuclear-armed neighbour. (credit:JUNG YEON-JE via Getty Images)
(10 of17)
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Kuo Kai-wen, director of Taiwan's Seismology Center, points at the locations from a monitor showing North Korea's first hydrogen bomb test site, in Taipei on January 6, 2016. (credit:SAM YEH via Getty Images)
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Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida (L) listens to US Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy (R) during their talks at the foreign ministry in Tokyo on January 6, 2016 following North Korea's nuclear test. (credit:TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA via Getty Images)
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Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe delivers a speech at the Lower House's plenary session following a North Korean nuclear test, at the National Diet in Tokyo on January 6, 2016. (credit:YOSHIKAZU TSUNO via Getty Images)
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Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida (L) shows the way to US Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy (R) prior to their talks at the foreign ministry in Tokyo on January 6, 2016 following North Korea's nuclear test. (credit:TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA via Getty Images)
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Chinese paramilitary policemen stand guard outside the North Korean Embassy in Beijing, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
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A Chinese paramilitary policeman stands guard outside the North Korean Embassy in Beijing, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
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Shoppers stand near TV screens which report that North Korea said it had conducted a hydrogen bomb test, at an electronics store in Tokyo, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
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People watch a TV news program showing North Korea's announcement, at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)