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North Korea Nuclear Test 'Dangerous and Reckless': Turnbull

The PM has slammed the North's latest flaunting of international law.
The PM has slammed North Korea's latest nuclear test.
AFP/Getty Images
The PM has slammed North Korea's latest nuclear test.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has hit out at North Korea over its latest nuclear test, labeling it reckless and dangerous and urging the UN to enforce all possible sanctions against the secretive Asian nation.

Leaders across the globe have expressed dismay after North Korea claimed it had carried out a successful test of a nuclear warhead that could be rigged on a missile, with South Korea accusing the North's leader Kim Jong-un of "maniacal recklessness" over the blast.

The test has triggered urgent UN talks and calls for new sanctions on North Korea just days after the country marked the 68th anniversary of its founding.

Friday's test is the North's fifth and biggest nuclear so far, and was said to be more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima

Speaking in Pohnpei, Micronesia, Turnbull didn't mince words when addressing North Korea's latest headline-grabbing test.

"The North Korean missile tests are a dangerous, reckless, provocative act," he told reporters on the sidelines of the Pacific Forum.

"It has been described as maniacal by the South Korean president and it's hard to disagree with that.

"This is ... yet another shocking disturbance of peace in the region and a real threat to peace in the region."

He called on all nations to make sure that UN security council sanctions were "enforced to the letter".

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