Poland's Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski strongly condemned North Korea's latest nuclear test, which it conducted underground on Tuesday, calling the move “dangerous.”

“What is really dangerous for the whole world, is that this regime, while unable to feed its own population, is acquiring nuclear technology and trading it,” Mr Sikorski said in an interview with the Polish Radio.

“If [North] Korea is developing, as rumored, miniaturized warheads, one can assume it is only a matter of time before such [nuclear] charges are being sold to countries seeking to buy nuclear weapons,” he added. According to Mr Sikorski the nuclear test is evidence that China, North Korea's closest ally, has lost control of its volatile neighbor.

According to reports from South Korean news agency Yonhap, the test caused a 4.9-magnitude earthquake. The tremor was registered by three seismic detection centers in China, Japan and the US. Kim Min-Seok, the spokesperson for South Korea’s Defense Ministry, said the blast generated an explosive yield of between six and seven kilotons of TNT.

Martin Nesirky spokesperson for the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, said in a statement that Mr Ban condemned the test. US President Barack Obama called it a “highly provocative act.”

Marta Mardosz