NATO condemns North Korea nuclear test

The head of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on Wednesday condemned North Korea for reportedly testing a nuclear device, accusing Pyongyang of imperiling global security.

{mosads}NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg called on North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons and missile programs and work with the international community toward better dialogue.

“The nuclear weapons test announced by North Korea undermines regional and international security, and is in clear breach of UN Security Council resolutions,” Stoltenberg said in a statement.

“I condemn the continued development by North Korea of nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes and its inflammatory and threatening rhetoric,” he added.

The remarks come as North Korea’s neighbors blasted the nuclear test, with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe calling it “totally unacceptable,” according to The New York Times.

Abe said the test represented “a grave threat to Japan’s security” and that other countries at the United Nations Security Council would take action against Pyongyang in the wake of the test.

North Korea claimed that it had successfully carried out a test of a hydrogen bomb as officials in the U.S. and international community monitored seismic activity near a North Korean nuclear site.

The move could represent an escalation on the part of the isolated nation, which has conducted three nuclear tests since 2006.