UN Security Council slams DPRK's nuke test

People watch a TV broadcasting a suspected nuclear test held by Democratic People's Republic of Korea, at a train station in Seoul, South Korea, Sept. 9, 2016. South Korea's military believed the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) might have conducted the "most powerful" nuclear test so far on Friday after an artificial earthquake was detected at a site where its fourth nuclear test was carried out earlier this year. (Xinhua/Yao Qilin)

The UN Security Council on Friday condemned the latest nuclear test conducted by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), saying it is a clear violation of Security Council resolutions.

"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 here.

The DPRK's state-run television reported early Friday that the country had conducted a nuclear warhead explosion test. It was Pyongyang's fifth nuclear test, which followed the previous one by eight months.

After a closed-door meeting on this matter, the 15-nation council said in a press statement that the nuclear test is a flagrant disregard of the nuclear non-proliferation regime, and "therefore a clear threat to international peace and security continues to exist."

"The members of the Security Council also recalled that they have previously expressed their determination to take further significant measures in the event of another nuclear test by the DPRK," it added.

In January, the DPRK carried out a test of what it called its first H-bomb. It also conducted underground nuclear tests respectively in 2006, 2009 and 2013.

The Security Council has adopted five resolutions to curb the DPRK's nuclear and missile programs. The latest one adopted in March imposes the most severe sanctions yet on the country, including an export ban and asset freeze.