The UN today strongly condemned North Korea's underground nuclear test as "deplorable", saying it was a "clear and grave violation" of the Security Council resolutions and defied the unequivocal call from the world community to refrain from "provocative" measures.
"It is deplorable that Pyongyang defied the strong and unequivocal call from the international community to refrain from any further provocative measures," said a UN statement issued by the Spokesperson for Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
The UN Secretary-General is gravely concerned about the negative impact of this deeply destabilising act on regional stability as well as the global efforts for nuclear non-proliferation, the statement said.
Ban urged North Korea to reverse course and work towards de-nuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, his spokesperson said.
Ban exuded confidence that the UN Security Council will remain united and take appropriate action.
The third nuclear test by North Korea, the first two conducted in 2006 and 2009, have shocked entire world.
While there was no immediate reaction from the White House, the top US intelligence body today said that it is aware of the "a seismic event with explosive characteristics" in North Korea.
"The Intelligence Community is aware of a seismic event with explosive characteristics in North Korea and we are evaluating all relevant information," said a statement issued by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence on the seismic event in North Korea.
Vienna-based Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organisation (CTBTO) said it has detected unusual seismic activity on the lines of that of a nuclear test.
"Today our monitoring stations picked up evidence of an unusual seismic event in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). The event shows explosion-like characteristics and its location is roughly congruent with the 2006 and 2009 DPRK nuclear tests," Tibor ToTh, CTBTO Executive Secretary said.
North Korea ignored a "strong warning" from China against staging its nuclear weapon test, a UN diplomat has said on condition of anonymity.
