US must recognise N Korea as ‘nuclear weapons state’: KCNA

A defiant North Korea on Sunday restated its demand for recognition as a “legitimate” nuclear-armed state, as world powers pondered ways to punish Pyongyang for its latest and largest atomic test.

The North also vowed to increase its nuclear strike force “in quality and in quantity”, two days after its fifth test in a decade sparked international condemnation and moves for tougher UN sanctions.

In Japan, a visiting senior US envoy said Washington and Tokyo were seeking “the strongest possible” measures in response. North Korea insists that its missile and nuclear tests are necessary to counter what it says is a US nuclear threat to its independence.

A statement on Sunday from a foreign ministry spokesman in Pyongyang mocked President Barack Obama’s “totally bankrupt” policy on the country. “Obama is trying hard to deny the DPRK’s (North Korea’s) strategic position as a legitimate nuclear weapons state but it is as foolish an act as trying to eclipse the sun with a palm,” said the statement quoted by the official KCNA news agency.  

Friday’s test came only eight months after the previous one and was almost twice as powerful, at an estimated 10 kilotons. Most worryingly for the international community, the North claimed it had been a miniaturised warhead that could be mounted on a missile.