Security Council meets on N Korea

North Korea conducted a nuclear test after seismic activity measuring 4.9 magnitude was registered by the U.S. Geological Survey. Courtesy: CNN

The UN Security Council is holding emergency talks on North Korea's third nuclear bomb test in seven years amid unanimous denunciation by the major powers of Pyongyang.

The 15-member council, which includes Australia, was expected to agree at least to a statement of condemnation at the first closed door consultations on the new proliferation crisis, diplomats said.

"I hope there will be more than a statement," said France's UN envoy Gerard Araud as he entered the meeting. "We certainly hope that the council will be able to send a clear message of strong condemnation," Philip Parham, Britain's deputy UN ambassador, told reporters.

The council last month threatened "significant action" against North Korea if it staged a test. The North already faces stringent UN sanctions over its weapon explosions in 2006 and 2009.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard earlier hit out at North Korea's "dangerous nuclear ambitions'' and said the test violated the UN's Security Council resolutions.

"As a Security Council member, Australia will work for the strongest possible response to North Korea's continuing defiance of the will of international community,'' Ms Gillard said.

"North Korea's development of nuclear weapons and missiles and its proliferation of sensitive technologies threaten international peace and security.''

The PM, who last year attended a nuclear security summit in South Korea with US President Barack Obama, has previously called on China to put pressure on North Korea to stop nuclear testing.

North Korea says it staged a successful test of a "miniaturised" bomb in a defiant move that brought a rare show of united protest by the Security Council's five permanent members - the United States, China, Russia, Britain and France.

China, Pyongyang's closest ally, summoned North Korea's ambassador in Beijing to lodge a protest.

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he expected Security Council measures. "Such actions that are worth condemnation require an adequate response," he declared on a visit to South Africa.

US President Barack Obama called for "swift" and "credible" international action against North Korea.

Diplomats said that despite the intense pressure for sanctions, the council would likely agree a statement today and then quickly start work on a resolution on sanctions.

A satellite file photo taken on October 16, 2006 shows North Korea's suspected nuclear test site in P'unggye-yok Kilju county. Picture: Korea Aerospece Research Institute/AFP

The Security Council ordered sanctions against North Korea for its two earlier tests and these were toughened last month for a rocket launch the North staged on December 12.

The Security Council added North Korea's state space agency, a bank, four trading companies and four individuals to its existing sanctions list.

China agreed to add to the resolution a threat of "significant action" if North Korea staged a new test.

The United States and its allies will press for swift measures, diplomats said. It took weeks for the Security Council to agree on statements and sanctions after the 2006 and 2009 tests, and North Korea's sinking of a South Korean warship in 2010.

Much focus will now be placed on how tough China is prepared to be with its neighbour, which it has traditionally shielded from international action, diplomats and experts said.

China made a special effort to try to head off the latest bomb test, said a UN diplomat who has taken part in recent consultations.

North Korean soldiers stand guard along the Yalu River at the North Korean town of Sinuiju after the country confirmed it had "successfully" carried out an underground nuclear test. Picture: Mark Ralston/AFP

"The Chinese gave the North Koreans a strong warning against carrying out a test as it became apparent that it was imminent," said the diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"What the North Koreans have done now is a big challenge to the Chinese," added the envoy.

"China's inability to dissuade North Korea from carrying through with this third nuclear test reveals Beijing's limited influence over Pyongyang's actions in unusually stark terms," said Suzanne DiMaggio, vice president of the Asia Society, a New York based policy forum.

"Bluntly put, North Korea's new young leader Kim Jong-Un has embarrassed China's leadership with this latest provocation."

Ms DiMaggio said China was unlikely to impose unilateral sanctions or cut its aid to the North "but this test leaves China little choice but to support stronger international sanctions."

The nuclear test is North Korea's first since leader Kim Jong-Un took power in December 2011 following the death of his father, Kim Jong-Il, and marks a bold statement for the young leader as he unveils his domestic and foreign policy for a country long estranged from the West.

A US Geological Survey map shows the epicenter of the North Korean quake. Picture: USGS

Experts say regular tests are needed to perfect North Korea's goal of building nuclear warheads small enough to be placed on long-range missiles. This atomic test - North Korea's third since 2006 - is expected to take Pyongyang closer to possessing nuclear-tipped missiles designed to strike the US.

South Korea's Defence Ministry estimated the yield of the weapon to be 6-7 kilotons, Yonhap News Agency reported.

North Korea tested atomic weapons in 2006 and 2009.

A third test had been expected. The secretive state in January said that it planned a further atomic and rocket tests in protest at expanded United Nations sanctions. It did not specify when any tests would take place.

The UN sanctions were imposed following the test launch of a rocket by the North in December.

Nuclear test triggers earthquake

North Korean soldiers stand guard along the Yalu River at the North Korean town of Sinuiju across from the Chinese city of Dandong. Picture: Mark Ralston/AFP

The US Geological Survey as well as earthquake monitoring stations in South Korea detected an earthquake just north of a site where North Korea conducted its second nuclear test in 2009, according to the government-funded Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources.

The quake struck at a depth of just 1km, with the epicentre in the same location as the North's Punggye-ri nuclear test site.

China's Earthquake Administration said it was a "suspected explosion,'' while South Korean and Japanese agencies concluded that the tremor was the result of a possible nuclear test.

Japan said it believed Pyongyang detonated a nuclear device in its far northeast.

"We believe that there is a possibility that North Korea carried out a nuclear test, looking at past cases,'' said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga.

Scientists in Japan said the earth tremor measured in the northeast of the Korean peninsula was "different from a normal earthquake", reports said.

South Korean passengers at the Seoul train station watch TV news reporting North Korea's apparent nuclear test. Picture: Kim Jae-Hwan/AFP

"The Japanese meteorological agency detected the wave is different from a normal earthquake and centred at a latitude of 41.2 North and longitude 129.3 East, which is estimated at magnitude 5.2 when converting to an earthquake," public broadcaster NHK reported.

The blast came after North Korea pulled manpower and equipment out of its test site.

Nuclear test is North Korea's third

North Korea's powerful politburo had vowed to continue firing "powerful long-range rockets".

The United States and its allies have been on edge since North Korea said last month it will conduct its third nuclear test to protest toughened sanctions over a December rocket launch that the UN called a cover for a banned missile test.

North Korea's powerful National Defense Commission said in January that the United States was its prime target for a nuclear test and long-range rocket launches. North Korea accused Washington of leading the push to punish Pyongyang for its December rocket launch.

This combination of GeoEye Satellite Images captured January 4, 2013(L) and January 23, 2013 shows the Punggye-ri nuclear test facility in North Korea. Picture: GeoEye Satellite Image/AFP

Last October, a spokesman from the commission told state media that the country had built a missile capable of striking the United States, but did not provide further details. A missile featured in an April 2012 military parade appeared to be an intercontinental ballistic missile, but its authenticity has not been verified by foreign experts.

The test marks the third time the North has detonated a nuclear device, following previous tests in 2006 and 2009.

Pyongyang's promise of a "higher-level" test had fuelled speculation it would be of a uranium device, compared to the plutonium ones detonated in 2006 and 2009.

A uranium test would confirm suspicions that the North has been secretly enriching weapons-grade uranium for years and open a path for Pyongyang to significantly expand its small nuclear arsenal.

Some experts had suggested a simultaneous test of both a plutonium and a uranium device.

Even with sophisticated seismic monitoring and "sniffer" planes capable of detecting radioactive fallout, external analysis will provide only limited information on the test, especially if it was well-contained.

North Korean soldiers patrol along the Yalu River after the country conducted its third nuclear test, triggering global condemnation. Picture: Mark Ralston/AFP

There will be particular concern at any sign that the North has made progress in the technically complex process of "miniaturising" a bomb to fit on the head of a long-range missile.

Proven miniaturisation ability would take on added significance in the wake of December's rocket launch which marked a major step forward in ballistic prowess.

Pyongyang had built up its nuclear test as a defiant response to a UN Security Council resolution that condemned the launch as a disguised ballistic missile experiment and imposed sanctions.

Most experts believe the North has some way to go to shrink a warhead to the required size and to develop a genuine intercontinental ballistic missile that could threaten the US mainland.

Once the test has been properly analysed, the even more problematic question arises of how the international community should respond to a country that appears immune to coercion.

The US and its allies will push hard for the "significant action" the UN resolution promised in the event of a test, but most eyes will be on China and president-in-waiting Xi Jinping, who will have to deal with North Korea for the next 10 years.

A Chinese paramilitary guard stands on duty outside the North Korean embassy in Beijing after North Korea's apparent nuclear test. Picture: Ed Jones/AFP

As the North's only major ally and economic lifeline, China has long shielded Pyongyang from harsh global sanction and only voted for the UN resolution after more punitive measures were discarded.

But there have been signs that Beijing's patience is wearing thin, with editorials in state-run newspapers warning of the "heavy price" Pyongyang would pay for a test, and threatening a reduction in Chinese aid.

China's leverage is limited, analysts say, by its fear of a North Korean collapse and the prospect of a reunified, US-allied Korea directly on its border.

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