DPRK vows not to rule out new form of nuclear test

PYONGYANG -- The Democratic People' s Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Sunday vowed not to rule out the possibility of conducting a new form of nuclear test if the United States continues its hostile policy towards Pyongyang.

"We do not rule out the new form of nuclear test to further strengthen our nuclear deterrence," a Foreign Ministry statement was quoted by the official news agency KCNA as saying.

Washington will bear all responsibility in the event of a "catastrophic" event on the Korean Peninsula, it said, warning the U.S. against taking any "rash action."

The statement was made in response to a statement made by the United Nations Security Council at a closed-door consultative meeting Friday, which condemned Pyongyang' s recent ballistic missile launches.

"As long as the United States, who is manipulating the U.N. State Council to smother the DPRK, we will also accordingly exercise our legitimate defense right as well," said the statement, adding that "we have already well prepared for various forms of countermeasures."

The DPRK ballistic missile launches are banned under UN Security Council resolutions adopted in response to nuclear tests by Pyongyang in 2006 and 2009 and subsequent rocket firings.

The DPRK conducted its first nuclear test in October 2006, three months after launching the Rodong missiles. And in May 2009, Pyongyang carried out its second nuclear test, two months before firing off other Rodong missiles to protest against the UN Security Council resolution 1874.

The third nuclear test was staged in February 2013, just two months after Pyongyang launched the three-stage rocket called Unha-3, which Seoul claimed was a long-range rocket.