AKIPRESS.COM - The UN Security Council agreed Wednesday to roll out new measures to punish North Korea after its shock announcement of a hydrogen bomb test triggered global concern and condemnation, Digital Journal reports.

Although officials and experts were highly sceptical of the claim it was a sophisticated H-bomb, the latest test provided unnerving proof – if proof were still needed – of North Korea's commitment to developing an advanced nuclear weapons capability.

With backing from China, Pyongyang's sole major ally, the 15-member council strongly condemned the test and said it would begin work on a new UN draft resolution that would contain "further significant measures."

UN diplomats confirmed that talks were under way on strengthening several sets of sanctions that have been imposed on secretive North Korea since it first tested an atomic device in 2006.

"I demand the DPRK cease any further nuclear activities," UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said, echoing international condemnation of the test voiced by the North's traditional adversaries – the United States and South Korea.

The censure and sanctions threats had a familiar ring, given similar outrage that greeted the North's previous tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013, and some voices stressed the need to find a strategy that combined coercion with negotiation.

In announcing that it had successfully tested a hydrogen bomb, North Korea said it had "joined the rank of advanced nuclear states" like Russia, France and the United States that also boast thermonuclear devices.

The order to test was personally signed by leader Kim Jong-Un, with a handwritten message to begin 2016 with the "thrilling sound of the first hydrogen bomb explosion."

Acquisition of a working H-bomb – with a destructive power that dwarfs the fission bombs it has tested in the past – would represent a massive leap forward in the North's nuclear weapons capability.

But experts said the explosive yield from Wednesday's test – initially estimated at between six and nine kilotons – was far too small.

"The initial analysis that has been conducted... is not consistent with North Korea's claim of a successful hydrogen bomb test," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.

After meeting behind closed doors, the UN Security Council "strongly condemned" the underground test and described it as a "clear threat to international peace and security."

But there was no real clarity on what form the sanctions might take, or when the package would be drawn up.

Currently, there are a total of 20 entities and 12 individuals on the UN sanctions blacklist, which provides for a global travel ban and an assets freeze.