UN General Assembly president "dismayed and disappointed" by DPRK nuke test

President of the UN General Assembly Mogens Lykketoft said in a statement on Wednesday that he was "dismayed and disappointed" by the news of an underground nuclear test carried by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

"Such activities are in violation of numerous UN Security Council resolutions and have the potential to destabilise the situation on the Korean peninsula," he said.

Nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction threaten the existence of humankind and must be eliminated, he added.

The DPRK should abandon its nuclear weapon and missile programmes in a verifiable and irreversible manner, cease all related activities, and comply with all its international obligations, he said.

"I call on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to pursue its objectives by choosing dialogue over demonstrations of power that present a serious threat to global peace and security," he said.

The surprise announcement by the DPRK that it successfully carried out its first hydrogen bomb test Wednesday morning jolted the international community. On Wednesday, both UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the UN Security Council condemned the test.

The H-bomb test is the fourth nuclear test by the country, which has previously conducted three nuclear tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013, respectively.