N Korea celebrates nuke test success

SEOUL:North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un praised the “perfect success” of the country’s sixth and largest nuclear test and urged further weapons development, according to state media on Sunday, in the face of a US drive for tough new sanctions.

Pyongyang held a banquet, concert and performances in a weekend display of pageantry to celebrate the September 3 nuclear test, which the North said was a hydrogen bomb that could be fitted onto a rocket.

The blast, which came weeks after the country fired off two intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that appeared to bring much of the mainland US into range, prompted global condemnation and calls to ramp up sanctions against the isolated nation.

But the North’s leader appeared deaf to the international outrage and hailed the “perfect success in the test of H-bomb” at a dinner to congratulate the scientists and technicians behind the nuclear programme, the official Korean Central News Agency reported Sunday.

Dubbing the latest test the “great auspicious event of the national history”, he called for “redoubled efforts” to complete the country’s mission to fully become a recognised nuclear power.

A two-page spread carried by the North’s official Rodong Sinmun newspaper on Sunday showed photos of Kim and his wife Ri Sol-Ju attending a special concert held for the nuclear scientists and technicians.AFP