North Korea says it has successfully tested a nuclear warhead that can be mounted on ballistic rockets, after potentially the most powerful nuclear test of five the country has conducted since 2006, CNN reports.
State media said the test showed that North Korea had a standardized nuclear warhead that would enable North Korea to "produce at will and as many as it wants a variety of smaller, lighter and diversified nuclear warheads of higher strike power."
A US official said that it looked like a nuclear test but confirmation would be dependent on seismic readings, location of the seismic event and whether it can be matched to an underground test site.
South Korea condemned the test, saying it was a clear violation of the United Nations Security Council resolution.
The blast had the explosive power of 10 kilotons, almost twice as large as the previous test, said Kim Nam-wook, from South Korea's Meteorological Administration.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters Friday that if North Korea had conducted another nuclear test it was "absolutely unacceptable."
