Brazil condemns North Korea nuclear test

Brazil's Foreign Ministry has strongly condemned the testing of a hydrogen bomb by North Korea. “The Brazilian Government has learned with great concern of the announcement by the Government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) of a new detonation of nuclear device by that country,” a statement released Wednesday (Jan. 6) read.

The United Nations Security Council said the test was a violation of its resolutions and threatened to impose new sanctions on the country. Three other nuclear tests had already been carried out by North Korea in 2006, 2009 and 2013, which resulted in UN sanctions.

In its note, the Brazilian government urged North Korea to abide by its obligations to the United Nations, to return to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, and to sign and ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty . It also wants North Korea to resume the Hexapartite negotiations toward denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula and strengthening peace and security in the region.

Tremor
The tremor caused by the H-bomb test in Korea was felt in Brazil, according to the University of Brasília Seismological Observatory. On Wednesday (Jan. 6), it recorded tremors caused by the nuclear test that had a power equivalent to an earthquake of a magnitude of 5 on the Richter scale, according to Lucas Barros, head of the observatory.

Located in the National Park of Brasília, Brazil's seismological station is part of a global network of detectors for this kind of explosion in light of the international treaty banning nuclear tests.

*With information from Agência Brasil, Agência Lusa, and Sputnik.

Translated by Mayra Borges