The Japanese government slammed North Korea for its fifth nuclear test Friday and vowed to consider further unilateral sanctions against it for defying international warnings over its nuclear and missile programs, Kyodo News reported.

“We simply cannot tolerate (the fact) that North Korea forced through a nuclear test,” Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said in a statement, describing it as happening after an “unprecedentedly” short interval since the last nuclear test in January.

The government said it will work closely with the United States and South Korea to deal with the situation.

In a sign of unity between Japan and the United States, its security treaty ally, Abe held a 10-minute phone conversation with U.S. President Barack Obama in the afternoon and the two leaders agreed to closely cooperate to deal with the situation, a Japanese government official said.

Source: MENA