Zhang Liangui, an expert in Korean studies at the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, said he believes that the Wednesday test is "not a surprise" as Pyongyang has renewed its official commitment to its nuclear plans in recent years.

It is likely that the United Nations Security Council will convene in the near future and come up with fresh sanctions against the test, Zhang said. "The past sanctions seem to have failed because the effects were way far from remarkable," he said.

The Wednesday test is also a further frustration for the stalled Six-party Talks, Zhang said.

The Six-party Talks, which group the DPRK, the Republic of Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia, were launched in 2003 but stalled in December 2008. The DPRK quit the talks in April 2009.

Zhang said that the rest of the parties of the Six-party Talks should take further measures to prompt the DPRK to give up its nuclear plan.