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Roundup: Int'l community voices strong condemnation of DPRK nuclear test

Xinhua, September 10, 2016 Adjust font size:

After the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) announced it has successfully carried out another nuclear test on Friday, the international community voiced its strong condemnation over the event.

The DPRK's state-run television made the announcement early Friday, making the test the fifth of its kind in the country.

After a closed-door meeting on the matter, the United Nations Security Council on Friday issued a press statement, saying "a clear threat to international peace and security continues to exist" with the DPRK's latest test.

"The members of the Security Council will begin to work immediately on appropriate measures under Article 41 (of the UN Charter) and a Security Council resolution," Ambassador Gerard Jacobus van Bohemen of New Zealand, the council's president for this month, told reporters.

The 15-member Security Council has imposed severe sanctions on Pyongyang in March, including an export ban and asset freeze.

The International Atomic Energy Agency(IAEA) on Friday said the nuclear test by DPRK is a deeply troubling and regrettable act.

"This is in clear violation of numerous UN Security Council resolutions and in complete disregard of the repeated demands of the international community," the agency Chief Yukiya Amano remarked.

U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday called the DPRK's latest nuclear test "a grave threat" to regional and international peace and stability.

Obama said he had spoken separately by phone with South Korean President Park Geun-Hye and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the issue.

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson on Friday slammed the DPRK's act as "needless provocation," vowing to consult other international partners "on a robust response."

France called for a quick response to Pyongyang's violation of UN resolutions, according to a statement by the country's presidency office on Friday.

Also on Friday, China's Foreign Ministry issued a statement expressing firm opposition to the nuclear test and commitment to settle the problems through the six-party talks on Pyongyang's denuclearization.

The statement said China's stance has always been to achieve denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula, prevent nuclear proliferation and maintain peace and stability in Northeast Asia.

DPRK's nuclear test "deserves the strongest condemnation," Russian Foreign Ministry said in a Friday's statement, warning that the act, in violation of UN Security Council resolutions, will have negative consequences primarily for the DPRK itself.

Moscow urged all parties concerned to refrain from steps that could lead to further escalation of tensions, and confirmed its readiness for a "very tight coordination of steps aiming to elaborate an international response to Pyongyang's provocative actions," said the statement. Endi