PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — Defying U.N. warnings, North Korea on Tuesday conducted its third nuclear test
in the remote, snowy northeast, taking a crucial step toward its goal
of building a bomb small enough to be fitted on a missile capable of
striking the United States.
North Korea said the atomic test
was merely its "first response" to what it called U.S. threats, and said
it will continue with unspecified "second and third measures of greater
intensity" if Washington maintains its hostility.
The underground test, which set off powerful seismic waves, drew
immediate condemnation from Washington, the U.N. and others. Even its
only major ally, China, voiced opposition.
Kim, 67, appears to be re-establishing his grip on power since
reportedly suffering a stroke last August. Today's test is a direct
challenge to attempts by Obama to engage the North and stem the spread
of nuclear weapons.
Despite
promising a fresh start to bilateral relations, Obama, who denounced
last month's missile launch as "a provocation," has so far failed to
persuade North Korean to enter into negotiations.
Kim Myong-chol,
executive director of the Centre for Korean-American Peace in Tokyo, who
is close to Pyongyang, said the test was a reminder that North Korea
"is going it alone as a nuclear power".
"North Korea doesn't need
any talks with America. America is tricky and undesirable," he said. "It
does not implement its own agreements.
"We are not going to worry
about sanctions. If they sanction us, we will become more powerful.
Sanctions never help America; they are counter-productive … We don't
care about America and what they say."
President Barack Obama, who was scheduled to give a State of the
Union address later Tuesday, said nuclear tests "do not make North Korea
more secure." Instead, North Korea has "increasingly isolated and
impoverished its people through its ill-advised pursuit of weapons of
mass destruction," he said in a statement.
North Korea claimed the device was smaller than in previous tests; Seoul said it likely produced a bigger explosion.
The test was a defiant response to U.N. orders to shut down atomic
activity or face more sanctions and international isolation. It will
likely draw more sanctions from the United States and other countries at
a time when North Korea is trying to rebuild its moribund economy and
expand its engagement with the outside world..
Several U.N. resolutions bar
North Korea from conducting nuclear or missile tests because the U.N.
Security Council considers Pyongyang a would-be proliferator of weapons
of mass destruction and its nuclear testing a threat to international
peace and stability. North Korea dismisses that as a double standard,
and claims the right to build nuclear weapons as a defense against the
United States, which has been seen as enemy No. 1 since the 1950-53
Korean War. The U.S. stations more than 28,000 troops in
South Korea to protect its ally.
Tuesday's test is North Korea's first since young leader Kim Jong Un
took power of a country long estranged from the West. The test will
likely be portrayed in North Korea as a strong move to defend the nation
against foreign aggression, particularly from the U.S.
"The test was conducted in a safe and perfect way on a high level,
with the use of a smaller and light A-bomb, unlike the previous ones,
yet with great explosive power," North Korea's official Korean Central
News Agency said, confirming speculation that seismic activity near
Kilju around midday was a nuclear test.
North Korea was punished by more
U.N. sanctions after a December launch of a rocket that the U.N. and
Washington called a cover for a banned missile test. Pyongyang said it was a peaceful, and successful, bid to send a satellite into space.
The timing of the test is significant. It came hours before Obama's
speech and only days before the Saturday birthday of Kim Jong Un's
father, late leader Kim Jong Il, whose memory North Korean propaganda
has repeatedly linked to the country's nuclear ambitions.
This year also marks the 60th anniversary of the signing of the
armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War, and in late February South
Korean President-elect Park Geun-hye will be inaugurated.
In Pyongyang, where it was snowing Tuesday, North Koreans gathered
around televisions to watch a 3 p.m. TV broadcast announcing the nuclear
test.
The test shows the world that North Korea is a "nuclear weapons state
that no one can irritate," Kim Mun Chol, a 42-year-old Pyongyang
citizen, told The Associated Press in the North Korean capital. "Now we
have nothing to be afraid of in the world."
The National Intelligence Service in Seoul told lawmakers that North
Korea may conduct an additional nuclear test and test-launch a ballistic
missile in response to U.N. talks about imposing more sanctions,
according to the office of South Korean lawmaker Jung Chung-rae, who
attended the private meeting. Analysts have also previously speculated
that Pyongyang might conduct multiple tests, possibly of plutonium and
uranium devices.
North Korea is estimated to have enough weaponized plutonium for four
to eight bombs, according to American nuclear scientist Siegfried
Hecker.
It wasn't immediately clear to outside experts whether the device
exploded Tuesday was small enough to fit on a missile, and whether it
was fueled by plutonium or highly enriched uranium. A successful test
would take North Korean scientists a step closer to building a nuclear
warhead that can reach U.S. shores —seen as the ultimate goal of North
Korea's nuclear program.
In 2006, and 2009, North Korea is believed to have tested devices
made of plutonium. But in 2010, Pyongyang revealed a program to enrich
uranium, which would give the country a second source of bomb-making
materials — a worrying development for the U.S. and its allies.
"This latest test and any further nuclear testing could provide North
Korean scientists with additional information for nuclear warhead
designs small enough to fit on top of its ballistic missiles," Daryl
Kimball and Greg Thielmann wrote on the private Arms Control
Association's blog. "However, it is likely that additional testing would
be needed for North Korea to field either a plutonium or enriched
uranium weapon."
Monitoring stations in South Korea detected an earthquake in the
North with a magnitude of 4.9 and the South's Defense Ministry said that
corresponds to an estimated explosive yield of 6-7 kilotons.
The yields of the North's 2006 and 2009 tests were estimated at 1
kiloton and 2 to 6 kilotons, respectively, spokesman Kim Min-seok said.
By comparison, U.S. nuclear bombs that flattened Nagasaki and Hiroshima
during World War II were estimated at 13 kilotons and 22 kilotons,
respectively, Kim said.
The test is a product of North Korea's military-first, or songun, policy, and shows Kim Jong Un is running the country much as his father did, said Daniel Pinkston of the International Crisis Group think tank.
The decision to push ahead with a test will be a challenge to the
U.N. Security Council, which recently punished Pyongyang for launching
the December long-range rocket. In condemning that launch and imposing
more sanctions on Pyongyang, the council had demanded a stop to future
launches and ordered North Korea to respect a ban on nuclear activity —
or face "significant action" by the U.N.
U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon condemned
the test in a statement. Japanese officials said they expected the
Security Council to meet later to take up the nuclear test.
China expressed firm opposition to the test but called for a calm response by all sides.
The other part of a credible North Korean nuclear deterrent is its
missile program. While it has capable short and medium-range missiles,
it has struggled in tests of technology for long-range missiles needed
to carry bombs to the United States, although it did launch the
satellite in December.
North Korea isn't close to having a nuclear bomb it can use on the
United States or its allies. Instead, Hecker said in a posting on
Stanford University's website, "it wants to hold U.S. interests at risk
of a nuclear attack to deter us from regime change and to create
international leverage and diplomatic maneuvering room."
The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, said he was "deeply worried" by the development.
The
UN security council will hold an emergency meeting in New York later
today to discuss its response to the latest escalation in the crisis.
Obama and other leaders did not offer details on the council's possible
response.
China, North Korea's key ally, said it was "resolutely
opposed" to the test, urging its neighbour to avoid actions that would
sharpen tensions and return to six-party arms-for-disarmament talks.
Japan, which considers itself high on the North's potential hit list, said it would seek a new resolution condemning the test.
Russian
defence experts estimated the explosion's yield at between 10 and 20
kilotons, many times more than the 1 kiloton measured in its first
nuclear test in 2006 and about as powerful as the bombs the US used
against Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of the second world war. One
kiloton is equal to the force produced by 1,000 tonnes of TNT.
The force of the blast made the ground tremble in the Chinese border city of Yanji, 130 miles away.
The
North Korean news agency said the test had been "safely conducted on a
new higher level in terms of its explosive power and technology of its
control. The test will contribute to defending the sovereignty of the
country and the nation and socialism and ensuring peace and security on
the Korean peninsula and the region."
Gordon Brown described the
test as "erroneous, misguided and a danger to the world". The prime
minister added: "This act will undermine prospects for peace on the
Korean peninsula and will do nothing for North Korea's security."
South
Korea condemned the test, North Korea's second since it exploded its
first nuclear device in October 2006 in defiance of international
opinion. That test prompted the UN to pass a resolution banning
Pyongyang from activities related to its ballistic missile program.
