Sep 9, 2016

North Korea on conducted its fifth atomic test Friday, producing its biggest-ever explosive yield equivalent to 10 kiloton of TNT.

The date for the test coincides with the founding day of North Korea.

: An official points to North Korea’s northeastern county of Kilju, where the communist country conducted a nuclear test, on Sept. 9, 2016 at the Korea Meteorological Agency in Seoul. The test, the fifth of its kind following its first in 2006, second in 2009, third in 2013 and fourth in January 2016, caused a 5 magnitude tremor. North Korean news media, including the Korean Central TV Station, confirmed the latest nuclear test in their reports later in the day. (Yonhap News/Newscom/Zuma Press/TNS)

: South Koreans watch TV news reporting the North Korea’s nuclear test at the Seoul Railway Station on September 9, 2016 in Seoul, South Korea. North Korea is suspected of carrying out its fifth nuclear test, after a magnitude 5.3 earthquake was detected close to its Punggye-ri test site. It is North Korea’s National Day today, celebrating the start of the leadership regime. (Photo by Woohae Cho/Getty Images)

: United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon speaks to reporters at United Nations headquarters, Friday Sept. 9, 2016. North Korea said it conducted a “higher level” nuclear test explosion on Friday that will allow it to finally build an array of stronger, smaller and lighter nuclear weapons. Ban Ki-moon has condemned the test and urged the Security Council, “to unite and take urgent actions.” (Rick Bajornas/United Nations via AP)

: Researchers check the seismic waves that were measured in South Korea at the Earthquake and Volcano Monitoring Division on September 9, 2016 in Seoul, South Korea. North Korea is suspected of carrying out its fifth nuclear test, after a magnitude 5.3 earthquake was detected close to its Punggye-ri test site. It is North Korea’s National Day today, celebrating the start of the leadership regime. (Photo by Woohae Cho/Getty Images)

: People watch a TV broadcast of an artificial earthquake in North Korea being detected at Seoul Station on Sept. 9, 2016. The European-Mediterranean Seismological Center said the same day that a magnitude 5 earthquake was detected near North Korea’s nuclear test site in its northeastern region. A South Korean government source said it sees a high possibility that North Korea conducted a nuclear test on the occasion of its founding anniversary. (Yonhap News/Newscom/Zuma Press/TNS)

: South Korean President Park Geun-hye speaks during an emergency meeting to discuss follow-up measures to respond to North Korea’s nuclear test at the presidential house in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Sept. 9, 2016. North Korea said it conducted a “higher level” nuclear test explosion on Friday that will allow it to finally build “at will” an array of stronger, smaller and lighter nuclear weapons. It was the North’s fifth atomic test and the second in eight months. (Baek Seung-ryul/Yonhap via AP)

: South Korean protesters stage a rally to oppose a deployment of the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Sept. 9, 2016. North Korea said Friday it conducted a “higher level” nuclear warhead test explosion that will allow it to finally build “at will” an array of stronger, smaller and lighter nuclear weapons. It is Pyongyang’s fifth atomic test and the second in eight months. The signs read “We oppose the THAAD deployment.” (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

: FILE – In this July 27, 2013, file photo, North Korean soldiers turn and look towards their leader Kim Jong Un from a military parade vehicle as they carry packs marked with the nuclear symbol during a ceremony marking the 60th anniversary of the Korean War armistice in Pyongyang, North Korea. Mark up another first for North Korea – two nuclear tests in one year. With few other options, or allies to rally behind it, this is how Pyongyang likes to play its cards in the power game that is northeast Asian politics. The question is whether it can play them well enough to get what it really wants: international recognition, security guarantees and, at the most fundamental level, its own continued survival. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E, File)

: South Korea and U.S. Marines stand in smoke during the 66th Incheon Landing Operations Commemoration ceremony in Incheon, South Korea, Friday, Sept. 9, 2016. Incheon is the coastal city where the United Nations Forces led by U.S. Gen„ÄÇ Douglas MacArthur landed in September, 1950 just months after North Korea invaded the South. North Korea said Friday it conducted a “higher level” nuclear warhead test explosion, which it trumpeted as finally allowing it to build “at will” an array of stronger, smaller and lighter nuclear weapons. It is Pyongyang’s fifth atomic test and the second in eight months. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

: South Korean amphibious vehicles fire smoke shells during a re-enactment of the Incheon landing to mark the 66th anniversary of the start of Operation Chromite, the battle that turned the tide in the Korean War, in the western port city of Incheon on September 9, 2016. South Korea marked the 66th anniversary of the daring Incheon Landing which was led by US General Douglas MacArthur and led two weeks later to the recapture of Seoul from North Korean invaders during the Korean War. North Korea has conducted a fifth nuclear test, its most powerful to date, South Korea’s President Park Geun-Hye said on September 9, condemning the move as an act of “self-destruction” that would deepen its isolation. / (AFP Photo/Jung Yeon-je)

: South Korean army soldiers ride on a military truck towing the artillery in Paju, South Korea, Friday, Sept. 9, 2016. North Korea said it conducted a “higher level” nuclear test explosion on Friday that will allow it to finally build “at will” an array of stronger, smaller and lighter nuclear weapons. It was the North’s fifth atomic test and the second in eight months. (Im Byung-shik/Yonhap via AP)

North Korea claims successful test of nuclear warhead