United Nations: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon today denounced North Korea’s nuclear test as “deeply troubling” and “profoundly destabilising” for regional security as he called on Pyongyang to halt its nuclear programmes.
“The underground nuclear test is deeply troubling and once again violates numerous Security Council resolutions despite the united call by the international community to cease such activities,” Ban told reporters here today.
Stressing that the nuclear test is a “grave contravention” of the international norm against nuclear testing, Ban said the act is “profoundly destabilising for regional security and seriously undermines international non-proliferation efforts. I condemn it unequivocally.”
The UN Chief demanded that North Korea cease any further nuclear activities and meet its obligations for verifiable denuclearisation.
The world body is monitoring and assessing developments in close coordination with the concerned international organisations including the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organisation and interested parties, Ban said.
Heads of other international nuclear bodies also voice concern over reports of North Korea carryingout the hydrogen bomb test, saying it violates UNSC resolutions and is troubling for the region.
UN International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Yukiya Amano also said that if the nuclear test is confirmed, it is in clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions and is “deeply regrettable.”
“I strongly urge the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) to implement fully all relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council and the IAEA,” he said in a statement.
He added that the IAEA remains ready to contribute to the peaceful resolution of the North Korea nuclear issue “by resuming its nuclear verification activities in the DPRK once a political agreement is reached among countries concerned.”
Meanwhile, the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), which was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1996, said its experts are “analysing the event to establish more about its nature.”
“If confirmed as a nuclear test, this act constitutes a breach of the universally accepted norm against nuclear testing; a norm that has been respected by 183 countries since 1996,” said the Executive Secretary of the CBTO, Lassina Zerbo, in a statement.
“It is also a grave threat to international peace and security,” he said.
“I urge the DPRK to refrain from further nuclear testing and to join the 183 States Signatories who have signed the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty.