US Presidnet Barack Obama pledged “firm action” against North Korea, hours after the communist country announced it had staged a succeful nuclear test.

US Presidnet Barack Obama pledged “firm action” against North Korea, hours after the communist country announced it had staged a succeful nuclear test.

In his State of the Union address to Congress Tuesday, Obama stepped up the rhetoric.
"America will continue to lead the effort to prevent the spread of the world's most dangerous weapons," he said.

"The regime in North Korea must know that they will only achieve security and prosperity by meeting their international obligations."
"Provocations of the sort we saw last night will only isolate them further, as we stand by our allies, strengthen our own missile defence and lead the world in taking firm action in response to these threats," Obama added.

North Korea alarmed friends and foes alike less than a day before Obama's speech when it carried out its latest nuclear.
Pyongyang boasted it had tested a "miniaturised" device, a claim that will fuel concerns it has moved closer to fitting a warhead on a ballistic missile.

China signed up to a UN Security Council statement accusing the communist state of standing in "grave violation" of UN resolutions amid global condemnation of Tuesday's blast.

The Council highlighted its threat made last month -- after North Korea fired a long-range rocket -- to take "significant action" if Pyongyang went ahead with the nuclear test.

But North Korea, which analysts say has closed ranks under the young leadership of Kim Jong-Un, remained defiant after saying the underground test was forced upon it by US "hostility."

"The DPRK (North Korea) will never be bound to any resolutions," said Jon Yong-Ryong, first secretary of North Korea's mission in Geneva, berating the UN resolutions as "entirely unreasonable."