Korean Job Discussion Forums

[NAVFC]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,218699,00.html


They did it. They set a nuke off.

[EFLtrainer]

You started a new thread on this because....?

[Wangja]

/cos it's Fox and must be right.

[NAVFC]

[Junior]

This may result in no more than additional sanctions.

Oct. 9, 2006, 1:06AM
North Korea says nuclear test successful


By BURT HERMAN Associated Press Writer
� 2006 The Associated Press

SEOUL, South Korea � North Korea said Monday it had performed its first nuclear weapons test, an underground explosion that defied international warnings but was hailed by the communist nation as a "great leap forward" for its people.

The reported test drew harsh rebuke from North Korea's neighbors. The U.N. Security Council is expected to discuss the North Korean issue on Monday, and the United States and Japan are likely to press for a resolution imposing additional sanctions on Pyongyang.

The U.S. Geological Survey said it had recorded a magnitude-4.2 seismic event in northeastern North Korea. Australia and South Korea also said there was seismic confirmation that pointed to a nuclear test.

However, Japan said it could not immediately confirm the test.

North Korea's nuclear test was equivalent to 550 tons of TNT, a state-run South Korean geological institute said. That is relatively small compared to the bomb the United States dropped on Hiroshima, which was equivalent to 12,500 tons of TNT.

Although North Korea has long claimed it had the capability to produce a bomb, the reported test Monday, if confirmed, would be the first proof of its membership in a small club of nuclear-armed nations. That would dramatically alter the strategic balance of power in the region and seriously undermine global anti-proliferation efforts.

The test Monday morning came a day after the ninth anniversary of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's appointment as head of the Korean Workers' Party. Tuesday will be the 61st anniversary of the party's founding.

The North warned last week it would conduct a nuclear test, sparking frantic diplomatic efforts to head it off.

Condemnation of North Korea from world powers came swiftly after the test was announced.

"A North Korean nuclear test would constitute a provocative act in defiance of the will of the international commuity and of our call to refrain from actions that would aggravate tensions in Northeast Asia," White House spokesman Tony Snow said.

"We expect the U.N. Security Council to take immediate actions to respond to this unprovoked act," he said. "The United States is closely monitoring the situation and reaffirms its commitment to protect and defend our allies in the region."

China, the North's closest ally, said Beijing "resolutely opposes" the test and hopes Pyongyang will return to the six-party nuclear disarmament talks.

Japan's top government spokesman said if confirmed, the North Korean test would post a serious threat to the stability in the region and a provocation.

South Korea's presidential spokesman says Seoul will "sternly respond" to North Korea nuclear test and the Defense Ministry raised the military alert level.

The North's official Korean Central News Agency said the underground test was performed successfully and there was no dangerous radioactive leakage as a result of the underground test.

North Korean scientists "successfully conducted an underground nuclear test under secure conditions," the KCNA report said, adding this was "a stirring time when all the people of the country are making a great leap forward in the building of a great prosperous powerful socialist nation."

"It marks a historic event as it greatly encouraged and pleased the ... people that have wished to have powerful self-reliant defense capability," the KCNA statement went on to say. "It will contribute to defending the peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in the area around it."

South Korean intelligence officials said the seismic wave had been detected in North Hamkyung province, according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency. It said the test was conducted at 10:36 a.m. (9:36 p.m. EDT Sunday) in Hwaderi near Kilju city on the northeast coast, citing defense officials.

An official at South Korea's seismic monitoring center confirmed a magnitude-3.6 tremor felt at the time North Korea said it conducted the test was not a natural occurrence. The official spoke to The Associated Press on condition his name not be used, because he was not authorized to talk about the sensitive information to the media.

Australia also said there was seismic confirmation that North Korea conducted a nuclear test.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was skeptical as he arrived for a summit in South Korea.

"We must collect and analyze information to determine whether a test was actually held," he said.

South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun convened a meeting of security advisers over the issue, Yonhap reported, and intelligence over the test has been exchanged between concerned countries.

Kyodo News agency reported that the Japanese government has set up a taskforce in response to reports of the test.

The North has refused for a year to attend six-party international talks aimed at persuading it to disarm. The country pulled out of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in 2003 after U.S. officials accused it of a secret nuclear program, allegedly violating an earlier nuclear pact between Washington and Pyongyang.

A U.N. Security Council resolution adopted in July after a series of North Korean missile launches imposed limited sanctions on North Korea and demanded that the reclusive communist nation suspend its ballistic missile program _ a demand the North immediately rejected.

The resolution bans all U.N. member states from selling material or technology for missiles or weapons of mass destruction to North Korea _ and it bans all countries from receiving missiles, banned weapons or technology from Pyongyang.

Speculation over a possible North Korean test arose earlier this year after U.S. and Japanese reports cited suspicious activity at a suspected underground test site.

South Korean and Chinese envoys to North Korean disarmament talks prepared Monday to confer on North Korea's announcement that it had conducted a nuclear test.

South Korea's envoy, Chun Yung-woo, was on a plane to Beijing when North Korea made its announcement. Upon his arrival in Beijing, Chun said he was caught unaware and wanted first to consult with his Chinese counterpart, Wu Dawei, before commenting.

The South Korean and Japanese leaders were expected to meet in Seoul on Monday to discuss how to resolve the nuclear impasse and repair soured ties between their countries.

On Sunday in Beijing, Abe held summit talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao and they pledged to work to persuade North Korea to call off the test and rejoin the six-nation talks.

South Korean stocks plunged Monday following North Korea's announcement of the test. The South Korean won also fell sharply. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index, or Kospi, fell as low as 1,303.62, or 3.6 percent.

Markets in South Korea, the world's 10th-largest economy, have long been considered vulnerable to potential geopolitical risks emanating from the North. The two countries, which fought the 1950-53 Korean War, are divided by the world's most heavily armed border.

[Nambucaveman]