(VOVworld) – North Korea said on Friday that it had successfully conducted a high level nuclear warhead explosion test. It is Pyongyang's fifth atomic test and the second in eight months. South Korean National Security Adviser Cho Tae-yong confirmed that Pyongyang had carried out the test.

Yonhap news quoted a South Korean government offical as saying that South Korea, the United States and Japan had urged the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to hold an emergency session to address North Korea's latest nuclear test. The official said the UN council is expected to hold a meeting of its 15 member countries on Friday (New York time) in response to the request. China’s Foreign Ministry also issued a statement criticizing North Korea for carrying out its 5^th nuclear test. According to the White House press secretary Josh Earnest, President Barack Obama said that North Korea's nuclear test was yet another flagrant violation of UN Security Council resolutions as well as a serious provocation. President Barack Obama had indicated he would take every action under a mutual defence treaty with the South, including providing its nuclear umbrella, to protect Seoul from any North Korean threat. Obama and South Korean President Park Geun-hye talked by telephone, and the two leaders agreed to use every available means to pressure North Korea to abandon its nuclear program, including adopting a new UN Security Council resolution. France also strongly condemned North Korea's fifth test and called on the United Nations Security Council to quickly confront the issue.