S. Korea condemns N.K. nuclear test as violation of U.N. resolutions

South Korea condemned North Korea's third nuclear test as a violation of U.N. resolutions, an "unacceptable threat" to peace and security in the region and a "head-on challenge" to the international community.

The government also warned that Pyongyang will be seriously held accountable for its defiance in an official statement issued after President Lee Myung-bak held an emergency meeting of the National Security Council as well as a meeting with President-elect Park Geun-hye.

The nuclear test "is an unacceptable threat to peace and security on the Korean Peninsula and in the region, and a head-on challenge to the entire international community," senior presidential secretary Chun Yung-woo said, reading the government statement.

"North Korea won't be able to escape from (taking) grave responsibility for all consequences resulting from this provocation," he said.

South Korea will study all possible measures to get North Korea to abandon its nuclear programs, including actions through the U.N. Security Council, based on the principle that it won't tolerate North Korea's possession of nuclear weapons, the official said.

Seoul will deploy missiles capable of striking all of North Korea at an early date, he said.

Shortly later, Lee also met with President-elect Park Geun-hye to discuss the issue.

"North Korea pushed ahead with a nuclear test despite repeated warnings and appeals from our country and the international community," Park said at the start of the meeting, denouncing the test as a move that brings further isolation to the regime itself.

Park also accused Pyongyang of choosing to carry out the test at a time when a power transition is under way in South Korea, saying the move could be an attempt to unnerve South Koreans and to cause social confusion in the country.

"I also get a feeling that it was aimed at the Republic of Korea," Lee said.

Lee also said North Korea gave the United States and China advance notice of its test plans on Monday, and the information was later passed on to South Korea.

Park stressed that South Koreans should get firmly united to deal with the tensions.