SEOUL (AP) — North Korea said Tuesday that it will conduct a nuclear test amid what it calls increasing U.S. hostility toward the communist regime, prompting the South to raise its security level.
The U.S. also said it would raise the issue in the U.N. Security Council later Tuesday.
The statement from Pyongyang gave no precise date as to when a test might occur.
"The DPRK will in the future conduct a nuclear test in a condition where safety is firmly guaranteed," the North's Foreign Ministry said in a statement, using its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Seoul quickly announced that it had raised its security level.
"The government has taken measures to strengthen the security level in relation to the North Korea nuclear test, and has begun discussions with related countries," South Korea's presidential office said in a statement.
The communist North said Tuesday it "will in the future conduct a nuclear test in a condition where safety is firmly guaranteed" in a statement carried by its official Korean Central News Agency.
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Previous Blog Entries on N. Korea
U.S. suspects N. Korea planning for Nuclear Test
My Op-Ed on North Korea
Missile Launch Reports and other resources regarding N. Korea
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
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2 comments:
Nuclear tests by the so-called axis of evil cannot be justly opposed until all "nuclear" nations disarm. Every nation has a right to defend itself. On a smaller scale, I wish the "right to bear arms" would be revoked so we could have a gun-free society. Until that day comes, however, I will take measures necessary to defend myself and my family.
How can the US, the one nation to actually use a nuclear weapon and currently equipped with thousands of nukes, attempt to prevent other nations from exercising their nuclear capabilities. The UN should be as the instrument for the entire world to agree to rid the world of nuclear weapons.
Pritch
I agree. The U.S. has been a hypocrite in this dispute. In fact, the U.S. (through the flexing of its military might) is fueling this reaction from N. Korea in the first place. Since the U.S. doesn't want to agree to a formal peace treaty with N. Korea, Kim Jong Il is taking it upon himself to create a situation where it would be harder for the U.S. to attack (by developing a deterrent). The U.S. once again seems to be creating its own problems overseas.
As long as the U.S., Israel, Russia, Britain, France, China, and others have nuclear weapons, it is hard to argue against N. Korea not having them. The U.S. is standing on weak moral ground. Now it would be different if N. Korea were going around bullying and invading countries...but it seems to mind its own business for the most part. It's the U.S. that has the expansionist foreign policy; bullying other nations and invading/occupying/attacking countries around the world.
The U.S. seems to use international institutions and treaties, like the UN, as tools for its own foreign policy rather than what's best for world peace and stability. The U.S. cooperates with the UN when it suits U.S. interests. When things don't go the way the U.S. wants them to go... then the U.S. obstructs diplomacy. The U.S. has become a nation known for its hypocrisy.
And in terms of reducing and eliminating nukes.... the U.S. helped to put together the NPT (which had a goal of eventually scrapping nuclear weapons around the globe) but the U.S. doesn't support any policies that work towards that goal. The NPT has therefore become a joke. It all has to do with a lack of U.S. leadership.
If the U.S. approached Russia with a real verifiable plan to drastically reduce these weapons, I think the Russians would agree... (the cost of maintaining these weapons is pretty high). And once the U.S. and Russia make such a move, the other countries with these weapons would follow.... But it takes the top two nuclear countries to take that first step.
Hopefully N. Korea will return to the negotiating table and will make something positive happen. I have no confidence that the people in the White House are competent enough to really deal with this situation.
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