North Korea confirms 'nuclear warhead explosion' to counter 'US hostility'

Pyongyang: North Korea has conducted a "successful" fifth nuclear test, state-run TV said Friday, in an explosion described by the South as Pyongyang's largest-ever such blast.

"Scientists (from)... the DPRK carried out a nuclear explosion test for the judgment of the power of a nuclear warhead newly studied and manufactured by them at the northern nuclear test ground," a TV announcer said, using the North's official name.

"The Central Committee of the (ruling) Workers' Party of Korea sent warm congratulations to nuclear scientists... of the northern nuclear test ground on the successful nuclear warhead explosion test," she said.

The test will also enable the North to produce "as many as it wants (of) a variety of smaller, lighter and diversified nuclear warheads of higher strike power", she said.

The North did not say exactly when and where the test took place. But the announcement came hours after Seoul said Pyongyang had staged another atomic test in its Punggye-ri nuclear test site near the border with China.

The latest test, with an estimated yield of 10 kilotons, is the largest-ever staged by Pyongyang, Seoul's military said.