North Korea conducts "higher level" nuclear warhead test

PanARMENIAN.Net - North Korea said Friday, September 9 it conducted a "higher level" nuclear warhead test explosion, which it trumpeted as finally allowing it to build "at will" an array of stronger, smaller and lighter nuclear weapons. It is Pyongyang's fifth atomic test and the second in eight months, the Associated Press said.

South Korea's president called the detonation, which Seoul estimated had produced the North's biggest-ever explosive yield, an act of "fanatic recklessness."

Hours after Seoul noted unusual seismic activity near the North's northeastern nuclear test site, Pyongyang said in its state-run media that a test had "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."

"The standardization of the nuclear warhead will enable (North Korea) to produce at will and as many as it wants a variety of smaller, lighter and diversified nuclear warheads of higher strike power with a firm hold on the production of various fissile materials and technology for their use. This has definitely put on a higher level (the North's) technology of mounting nuclear warheads on ballistic rockets," the country said.

North Korea, led by a third-generation dictatorship and wary of outsiders, protects its nuclear program as a closely guarded state secret, and the claims about advancements made in its testing could not be independently verified. But they center on a technological mystery that has long bedeviled outside experts: How far has North Korea gotten in efforts to consistently shrink down nuclear warheads so they can fit on long-range missiles?

South Korean President Park Geun-hye strongly condemned the test, saying in a statement that it showed the "fanatic recklessness of the Kim Jong Un government as it clings to nuclear development." Kim is the North Korean leader.

North Korea said there was no radioactive material leaked, but the explosion put the region on edge.