SEOUL: North Korea said it had successfully conducted a nuclear test on Monday, raising the explosive power and level of control of its nuclear device to a new level, its state media said.
‘We have successfully conducted another nuclear test on May 25 as part of the republic’s measures to strengthen its nuclear deterrent,’ the North’s official KCNA news agency said.
YTN Television quoted the South Korean weather agency as saying it detected a tremor indicating a test at 0054 GMT.
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak had called an emergency meeting of cabinet ministers over the test, Yonhap said.
North Korea had recently said it would again test a nuclear device – its first was in October 2006 – in reaction to tightened international sanctions after it fired a long-range rocket in April.
News of the test hit South Korean financial markets, sending the main KOSPI share index down four percent in late morning trade, while the won dropped more than one per cent against the dollar.