UN to begin work on new North Korea sanctions

The UN Security Council has agreed to start work at once on a new series of sanctions on North Korea after its fifth nuclear test drew global condemnation.

During a closed-door meeting Friday, the council strongly condemned the test and agreed to begin drafting a new resolution under article 41 of the UN charter, which provides for sanctions.

"The members of the Security Council will begin to work immediately on appropriate measures under article 41 in a Security Council resolution," New Zealand's Ambassador Gerard van Bohemen, who holds the council's rotating presidency, told reporters after the urgent talks.

South Korea, the United States, Japan, Russia and China all condemned the blast at the Punggye-ri nuclear site, the North's most powerful yet at 10 kilotons.

In Seoul, dozens of protesters burned an effigy of the North's leader Kim Jong-Un and North Korean flags and called for "strong retaliation", including pre-emptive attacks on the North's nuclear complex.

"Eliminate Kim Jong-Un!" and "Destroy North Korea's nuclear weapons!" the elderly activists shouted.

Some newspapers were equally scathing. "South Korea left unguarded before nuclear maniac," read the banner headline of the top-selling Chosun Ilbo.

But the North's ruling party newspaper said Saturday it would not submit to US nuclear "blackmail", and described the South's President Park Geun-Hye as a "dirty prostitute" for working with US forces.

"Gone are the days never to return when the US could make a unilateral nuclear blackmail against the DPRK," said Rodong Sinmun, using the country's official name.

The Security Council met at the request of Japan, South Korea and the United States to agree on a response, despite resistance from Pyongyang's ally China to calls for tougher measures.

After the meeting China's Ambassador Liu Jieyi sidestepped questions about Beijing's support for sanctions.

"We are opposed to testing and we believe that it is more urgent than ever to work together to ensure denuclearization of the Korean peninsula," Liu said.

"All sides should refrain from mutual provocation and any action that might exacerbate the situation."

North Korea has been hit by five sets of UN sanctions since it first tested a nuclear device in 2006.