‘N Korea’s nuclear test act of self-destruction, unacceptable’

Seoul, Sep 9 (AFP) South Korean President Park Geun-Hyetoday condemned North Korea’s latest nuclear test as an act of"self-destruction" that will further deepen its isolation inthe international community. The impoverished but nuclear-armed North staged its fifthnuclear test this morning, she said in a statement, describingit as a "grave challenge" to the international community. "With the nuclear test, Kim Jong-Un’s regime will onlyearn more sanctions and isolation… and such provocation willfurther accelerate its path to self-destruction," she said,referring to the North’s young ruler. The latest nuclear test — described as the North’s mostpowerful to date by Seoul’s military — proves Kim’s "manicrecklessness" and his obsession with building a nucleararsenal despite global criticism, she added. In Tokyo, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe today calledNorth Korea’s latest nuclear test "absolutely unacceptable". "North Korea’s carrying out of a nuclear test isabsolutely unacceptable for Japan," Abe said in a statement,after Pyongyang conducted its fifth nuclear test, believed tobe its most powerful to date. "North Korea’s nuclear development is becoming a graverthreat to Japan’s safety and severely undermines the peace andsafety of the region and the international community," Abesaid. "Japan lodges a serious protest against North Korea andcondemns it in the strongest language," he added. (AFP)SAI