IAEA says North Korea's nuclear ambitions pose a "global threat"

The United Nations nuclear watchdog's chief said on Friday North Korea's sixth nuclear test conducted on September 3 showed the isolated country has made rapid progress on weapons development and posed a new, global threat.

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have increased markedly since the test, which led to a new round of sanctions against the DPRK after a unanimous UN Security Council resolution.

"The yield is much bigger than the previous test, and it means North Korea made very rapid progress," International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director Yukiya Amano said in Seoul.

"Combined with other elements, this is a new threat and this is a global threat," he said after a meeting with South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha.

Not clear whether 6th test was H-bomb

Amano said the IAEA did not have the capacity to determine whether the North had tested a hydrogen bomb, as Pyongyang has claimed.

"What is most important for now is for the international community to unite," Amano said.

Tensions had already flared after North Korea tested two more intercontinental ballistic missiles and other launches as it pursues its nuclear and missile programmes in defiance of international pressure.

South Korea said on Thursday the North could engage in more provocations near the anniversary of the founding of the North Korean communist party and China's all-important Communist Party Congress.

Insults and threats hurled between the North's leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump have aggravated the situation further.

Members of the international community have urged both countries to resolve matters peacefully while boosting pressure on Pyongyang to curb its weapons programmes.

A US State Department official said on Thursday that China was making progress in enforcing sanctions imposed on North Korea, and urged sceptical members of Congress not to rush to enact new measures before giving Beijing's efforts a chance to take effect. 

An effort to dampen the crisis

Russian and North Korean officials will meet in Moscow on Friday to discuss the North Korea crisis, a move welcomed by Washington, which has been locked in an increasingly heated war of words with Pyongyang over its nuclear and missile programmes.

Russia's Foreign Ministry said Oleg Burmistrov, Russia's ambassador-at-large, would meet Choe Son-hui, director-general of the North American department of North Korea's foreign ministry.

The US welcomed the planned meeting. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said, "I can't see that as a bad thing."

"Diplomacy is our preferred approach," Nauert added. "If Russia can be successful in getting North Korea to move in a better direction, we would certainly welcome that."