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Obama calls North Korea nuke test ‘highly provocative’ [VIDEO]

Associated Press Contributor
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WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is calling North Korea’s latest nuclear test a “highly provocative act” that threatens U.S. security and international peace.

In a statement issued early Tuesday, President Barack Obama promises to “continue to take steps necessary to defend ourselves and our allies.” He also urges “swift and credible action by the international community.”

North Korea says it successfully detonated a miniaturized nuclear device at a northeastern test site Tuesday, defying U.N. Security Council orders to shut down atomic activity or face more sanctions and international isolation.

Obama says such efforts “do not make North Korea more secure.” Instead, he says, North Korea has “increasingly isolated and impoverished its people through its ill-advised pursuit of weapons of mass destruction.”