North Korean nuclear test 'unacceptable'

TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday called North Korea's latest nuclear test "absolutely unacceptable".

"North Korea's carrying out of a nuclear test is absolutely unacceptable for Japan," Abe said in a statement, after Pyongyang conducted its fifth nuclear test, believed to be its most powerful to date.

"North Korea's nuclear development is becoming a graver threat to Japan's safety and severely undermines the peace and safety of the region and the international community," Abe said.

"Japan lodges a serious protest against North Korea and condemns it in the strongest language," he added.