US President Barack Obama has vowed new measures against North Korea in response to Pyongyang's latest nuclear test.

Obama said he had discussed the nuclear detonation with South Korean and Japanese leaders, with whom he agreed to push existing measures against North Korea and "to take additional significant steps, including new sanctions, to demonstrate to North Korea that there are consequences to its unlawful and dangerous actions." 

He condemned the North Korean test as "a grave threat to regional security and to international peace and stability." Obama called the test a "flagrant violation" of UN Security Council resolutions that "makes clear North Korea's disregard for international norms and standards for behaviour and demonstrates it has no interest in being a responsible member of the international community."