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N.Korea test draws world ire, U.N. plans reply
2006-10-09
World powers condemned North Korea on Monday after it said it conducted an underground nuclear test and the U.N. Security Council prepared a stern response that could further impoverish and isolate the communist state. China, Pyongyang's strongest political and economic backer, denounced the test by its neighbor as "brazen," and urged it to avoid action that could worsen the situation. Russian President Vladimir Putin also condemned the test. President Bush called it a "provocative act" that threatened international peace and security and required an immediate response from the U.N. Security Council. Monday's announcement by Pyongyang sharply escalated world concerns over North Korea's nuclear program and was a slap in the face for major regional and world powers engaged in six-party talks intended to prevent just such a test. It delivered a sharp blow to Chinese President Hu Jintao's doctrine of using economic incentives and diplomatic coaxing to avert North Korea's drive to become a nuclear weapons state. Only seven states have acknowledged having nuclear weapons. The Security Council was preparing a swift response to the test, with the United States called for a range of sanctions including international inspection of cargo going in and out of North Korea to check for weapons of mass destruction and related materials, diplomats said. Other proposals included a total arms embargo and a freeze on assets associated with Pyongyang's weapons of mass destruction. Britain and France said they would support sanctions. "The discussion will be on sanctions," France's U.N. Ambassador Jean-Marc de la Sabliere said on his way into a Council session. "The time has come to have a Chapter 7 resolution." Chapter 7 makes a resolution mandatory for all U.N. members and allows for sanctions and even war. But the Security Council has to state specifically what kind of action members want. Israel worried that Iran, already the focus of multinational efforts to curtail its nuclear program, might be emboldened to follow North Korea's lead. "Now that North Korea has proven nuclear capabilities, it is liable to collaborate with Iran and accelerate the Iranian nuclear program," Israel's ambassador to the United States Danny Ayalon told Israeli army radio. ECONOMIC IMPACT North Korea's announcement pushed the dollar to an eight-month high against the yen and helped shove oil above $60 a barrel. South Korea's won fell to two-month lows, but U.S. investors were unnerved and pushed stocks slightly higher. Bush said North Korea had been a leading proliferator of missile technology, including transfers to Iran and Syria, and warned Pyongyang against such a transfer of nuclear weapons. "The transfer of nuclear weapons or material by North Korea to states or non-state entities would be considered a grave threat to the United States and we would hold North Korea fully accountable for consequences of such action," he said. Bush said he spoke by phone to leaders of China, South Korea, Japan and Russia -- the other parties involved in long-stalled negotiations with North Korea -- and all agreed that the test was unacceptable. While stressing his commitment to diplomacy, Bush said he had told South Korea and Japan that "the United States will meet the full range of our deterrent and security commitments" in the Asia-Pacific region. North Korea's action presented Bush and fellow Republicans a further foreign policy challenge four weeks ahead of U.S. elections where control of the U.S. Congress is at stake. Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said there was no leak or danger from its test. "It marks a historic event as it greatly encouraged and pleased the KPA (Korean People's Army) and people that have wished to have powerful self-reliant defense capability." The U.S. Geological Survey said it had detected a 4.2 magnitude tremor in North Korea at 10:35 a.m. local time (0135 GMT). The Japan Meteorological Agency said its data showed a tremor took place around Gilju, on the peninsula's northeast coast around 70 miles from the Chinese border. SIZE OF THE BLAST There was no consensus on the size of the North Korean blast. A U.S. official said it could take several days for intelligence analysts to determine whether the event was the result of an unsuccessful nuclear test, a small nuclear device or a non-nuclear explosion. "In terms of yield, we have it registering at less than four on the Richter scale. That's the kind of thing that could be the result of several hundred tons of TNT, rather than a nuclear test," the official added. Gary Gibson of Australia's Seismology Research Center put it at about one kiloton, the equivalent of 1,000 tons of TNT. Russia's RIA news agency quoted Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov as saying it ranged between 5 and 15 kilotons. The U.S. Air Force dropped a 12.5-kiloton bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima in 1945. Analysts say North Korea probably has enough fissile material to make six to eight bombs but probably lacks the technology to devise one small enough to mount on a missile. The United Nation's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said Pyongyang's test threatened a global treaty to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Seoul, Beijing and Tokyo agree Pyongyang should end its boycott of talks on ending its nuclear arms program. Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman declined to say if the alert status of U.S. armed forces had changed but said the response to the nuclear test should be coordinated and international in scope. (Additional reporting by Jonathan Thatcher and Jon Herskovitz in Seoul, Elaine Lies in Tokyo, Chris Buckley in Beijing, Evelyn Leopold and Michelle Nichols at the United Nations and David Morgan, Kristin Roberts and Steve Holland in Washington) Muzi.com News
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