North Korea Stages Another Nuclear Test
International outrage has been expressed after North Korea said it had successfully carried out a second nuclear test. Seismologists confirmed it had the power of a 4.5 quake, Barack Obama said North Korea's program posed a "grave threat" to world peace. China and Russia condemned the test.
The UN Security Council is to meet in New York for emergency conferencing on how they should respond to N. Korea's testing.
North Korea gave warning of an upcoming test to the US less than an hour before it happened. It was much more powerful their first nuclear test in October 2006. A US official in Washington, who spoke to Reuters news agency on condition of anonymity, said "Pyongyang had given less than an hour's notice of the test, and had made no demands". There are also unconfirmed reports that North Korea test-fired two short-range missiles.
A North Korean state radio station said "another round of underground nuclear testing had been successfully conducted... as part of measures to enhance the Republic's self-defensive nuclear deterrent in all directions".
They did not report the test site, but South Korean officials placed it in the north-eastern region around the town of Kilju, the same site of North Korea's first nuclear test.
Monitors from the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization had been "unable to determine if the event has a nuclear background", Tibor Toth, told reporters. However, they did detect a "very close-to-surface type of event measuring 4.5 on the Richter scale", Mr Toth said. That would make it stronger than the October 2006 test, which had a measured around 4.1.
Russia's defense ministry estimated a blast of up to 20 kilotons - similar to the American bombs that flattened Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
Speaking outside the White House, US President Barack Obama said the US would "work with its allies around the world to "stand up to" North Korea".
"North Korea has previously abandoned its nuclear programme," Obama said. "Instead of following through on that commitment, it has chosen to ignore that commitment. Its actions have also flown in the face of United Nations resolutions. As a result North Korea is not only deepening its own isolation it's also inviting stronger international pressure."
South Korea said the test was an intolerable "provocation", Japan said any nuclear test by the North was "unacceptable", and both said they would ask for action from the Security Council.
UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon said he was "deeply disturbed". UN Security Council Resolution, 1718, demands that North Korea refrain from nuclear testing.
UK Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, said the test would "undermine prospects for peace on the Korean peninsula".
Russia and China echoed the words of condemnation saying it was "resolutely opposed" to the test. Both urged North Korea back to the negotiating table.
