North threatens to conduct tests on nuclear bomb

North Korea yesterday threatened it would conduct nuclear and ballistic missile tests unless the United Nations Security Council apologizes for its recent sanctions on Pyongyang.

In a statement to the official Korean Central News Agency, North Korea’s Foreign Ministry said North Korea “will be forced to take additional self-defense measures” to protect the best interests of the country if the UN Security Council does not offer an immediate apology for “infringing upon the sovereignty of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea [North Korea].”

The ministry added that such measures would include “a nuclear test and tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles.” It did not give specific dates for the tests. North Korea previously conducted a nuclear test in October 2006, about three months after launching a ballistic Taepodong-2 missile.

The statement also said that the North will build a light-water nuclear reactor and will “begin to develop without hesitation the technology to self-produce nuclear fuel.”

Moon Tae-young, spokesman for South Korea’s Foreign Ministry, said the latest North Korean statement presents “a direct challenge” to the unified and coordinated response from the international community,

“We urge that the North stop taking actions that threaten international peace, adhere to the UN Security Council resolutions and statement, and return to the six-party [nuclear disarmament] talks,” the official said. “We will continue to discuss our next steps with our allies to secure the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”

Last Saturday, Korean time, the North said it had begun reprocessing spent nuclear fuel rods to develop weapons-grade plutonium. That announcement came only hours after the UN Security Council sanctioned three North Korean companies following the North’s rocket launch on April 5.

On April 13, the Security Council issued a presidential statement condemning the launch and argued the action was in violation of existing Security Council resolutions banning the North from engaging in missile-related activities.

The following day, North Korea said it would reactivate its nuclear facilities and later ordered inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency to remove their surveillance equipment and leave the country.

In yesterday’s statement, the North called the move to freeze assets of the three companies “an unlawful provocation.”

Japan’s Sankei Shimbun reported yesterday that the Japanese government had confirmed North Korea had begun reprocessing spent fuel rods and that the North could conduct a nuclear test within three months.

By Yoo Jee-ho [jeeho@joongang.co.kr]