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SEOUL - The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) conducted its fifth nuclear test on Friday, setting off a blast that was more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, and said it had mastered the ability to mount a warhead on a ballistic missile.
Its most powerful explosion to date follows a test in January that prompted the UN Security Council to impose tightened sanctions but it failed to prevent DPRK from accelerating weapons development.
China said it was resolutely opposed to the test and urged Pyongyang to stop taking any actions that would worsen the situation.
Republic of Korea (ROK) President Park Geun-hye, in Laos after a summit of Asian leaders ended there on Thursday, said DPRK leader Kim Jong-un was showing "maniacal recklessness" in completely ignoring the world's call to abandon his pursuit of nuclear weapons.
US President Barack Obama, aboard Air Force One on his way home from Laos, said the test would be met with "serious consequences" and held talks with Park and with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the White House said.
DPRK "must abide by its obligations and abandon all its nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programmes in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner," the European Union's foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said in a statement.
DPRK, which labels ROK and the United States as its main enemies, said its "scientists and technicians carried out a nuclear explosion test for the judgment of the power of a nuclear warhead," according to a report from its official KCNA news agency.
