North Korea announced today that it had conducted a second nuclear test defying the repeated warnings from the Korean Government and the international community.
 

The nuclear test poses a serious threat not only to the Korean Peninsula but also to global peace and stability, including in Northeast Asia. It also constitutes a grave challenge to the international nonproliferation regime.
 

The North’s test is in contravention of the 1992 Joint Declaration of the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and agreements reached at the Six-Party Talks. As a breach of the UN Security Council Resolution 1718 that prohibited the North from conducting any additional nuclear test, it constitutes a provocation that can never be tolerated under any circumstances.
 

In close cooperation with the United States, Japan, China and Russia, the four other participants in the Six-Party Talks, as well as the international community, the Government will urge the UN Security Council to take appropriate measures.
 

The Government exhorts North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapon and other related programs immediately, return to the NPT regime, and faithfully comply with international laws and norms as a responsible member of the international community.