North Koreans watch a news broadcast on a video screen outside Pyongyang Railway Station in Pyongyang, North Korea, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016. Pyongyang has long claimed it has the right to develop nuclear weapons to defend itself against the U.S., an established nuclear power with whom it has been in a state of war for more than 65 years. But to build a credible nuclear threat, the North must explode new nuclear devices — including miniaturized ones — so its scientists can improve their designs and technology. (AP Photo/Kim Kwang Hyon) 
People walk by a screen showing the news reporting about an earthquake near North Korea’s nuclear facility, in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016.
In this Oct. 10, 2015, file photo, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un gestures as he watches a military parade in Pyongyang, North Korea. North Korea said on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016, it has conducted a hydrogen bomb test. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E, File) UNITED NATIONS – The Security Council pledged Wednesday to swiftly pursue new sanctions againstNorth Korea, strongly condemning its latest nuclear test as a “clear violation” of previous U.N. resolutions.
The sanctions would be the fifth round imposed on North Korea since the country’s first nuclear test in 2006. The sanctions are aimed at reining in the North’s nuclear and missile development, but Pyongyang has ignored them and moved ahead with programs to modernize its ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons.
The Security Council held an emergency meeting after North Korea announced its first hydrogen bomb test, which would mark a major advance for its still-limited nuclear arsenal. The announcement was met with skepticism, however, with South Korea’s spy agency saying the estimated explosive yield from the explosion was much smaller than what even a failed H-bomb detonation would produce.
The Security Council said North Korea’s actions were a “clear violation” of the four previous sanctions resolutions “and therefore a clear threat to international peace and security continues to exist.”
The U.N.’s most powerful body said it had pledged to take “further significant measures” – U.N. code for sanctions – in the event of another test and would begin work immediately on a new sanctions resolution in light of “the gravity of this violation.”