North Korea conducts 2nd nuclear test
President Lee Myung-bak, center, presides over a National Security Council meeting yesterday at the Blue House to discuss how to respond to North Korea’s second nuclear test. By Oh Jong-taek
The North’s first nuclear test was in October 2006. North Korea also fired three short-range missiles yesterday and, according to Russian news agency Itar-Tass, may carry out additional nuclear tests unless the United States ends its intimidation. Russia, which holds the United Nations Security Council presidency this month, said the council will open an emergency meeting this morning, Korean time, to discuss the nuclear test.
“The current nuclear test was safely conducted on a new higher level in terms of its explosive power and the technology of its control,” the North Korean statement read, “and the results of the test helped satisfactorily settle the scientific and technological problems arising in further increasing the power of nuclear weapons and steadily developing nuclear technology.
On April 29, North Korea threatened it would carry out a nuclear test unless the United Nations apologized for imposing sanctions following the North’s rocket launch on April 5. On April 26, Pyongyang said it had begun reprocessing spent fuel rods from its partially disabled nuclear facilities to develop weapons-grade plutonium.
South Korea condemned the nuclear test as “a serious threat to peace on the Korean Peninsula, Northeast Asia and the rest of the world, and a grave challenge to nuclear nonproliferation efforts.”
Blue House spokesman Lee Dong-kwan said the South Korean government will deal with the test at the UN Security Council through close consultation with the six-party dialogue partners and the international community. “We demand North Korea abandon all nuclear-related programs and abide by international regulations as a responsible member of the international community,” Lee said.
President Lee Myung-bak chaired an emergency National Security Council meeting in response to the test. According to his spokesman, the president said he was “deeply disappointed” and urged an “unwavering and resolute response” under any circumstances.
Earlier yesterday, Lee, the Blue House spokesman, confirmed that an artificial earthquake measuring 4.4 on the Richter scale was detected at 9:54 a.m. near Kilju, North Hamgyong, in North Korea. The first test in 2006 registered a 3.5-magnitude earthquake.
The announcement of the latest test was made only hours after the KCNA reported that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il had offered his condolences to the family of the late South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun.
The South Korean government scrambled to discuss responses to the North Korean act. The Ministry of National Defense formed a crisis management team, consisting of general-level officers, to come up with a response to the nuclear test. The Defense Ministry has put the South Korean military on full alert.
The Unification Ministry set up a special command center to monitor the situation north of the border. The ministry said there were 1,108 South Koreans in the North yesterday and added it would restrict South Koreans from traveling north of the border other than to the Kaesong Industrial Complex for the foreseeable future.
South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan yesterday was attending the ninth Asia-Europe Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Hanoi, Vietnam. According to the Foreign Ministry here, Yu was set to arrive in Korea this morning, one day ahead of schedule. The Foreign Ministry in Seoul said Yu and his Japanese counterpart Hirofumi Nakasone agreed to ask the UN Security Council to hold an emergency meeting on the latest nuclear test. Foreign ministers from China and Russia were also attending the ministerial meeting.
According to Wi Sung-lac, Seoul’s top nuclear representative, Yu said the South Korean government should handle the situation by solidifying international cooperation, including ties with the dialogue partners of the six-party nuclear disarmament talks: China, Japan, Russia and the United States.
In a statement, U.S. President Barack Obama called the test “a threat to international peace” that warranted “action by the international community.”
“North Korea is directly and recklessly challenging the international community. North Korea’s behavior increases tensions and undermines stability in Northeast Asia,” Obama said.
On the sidelines of the meeting in Hanoi, Japan pledged “stern” action.
“It is an act that we can never tolerate,” Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone said in Hanoi. “We, as the only atomic-bombed nation, need to take stern action.”
The North’s first nuclear test led to the drafting of UN Security Council Resolution 1718, which demands that “[North Korea] not conduct any further nuclear test” and “decides that [North Korea] shall abandon all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner.” The resolution calls for various sanctions against the North. Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura called the test “a clear violation” of the resolution and would be “unacceptable.” A resolution requires a unanimous vote from the five permanent members - Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States. China and Russia were reluctant to issue a new resolution in April and they were also measured in their reactions yesterday.
South Korean political parties were united in their condemnation of the test. Ruling Grand National Party spokesman Yoon Sang-hyun said it was “an uncivilized act of provocation that threatens world peace.”
The major opposition Democratic Party, the late President Roh’s political home, was particularly upset that the test occurred during a seven-day period of national mourning. In October 2007, Roh met with Kim Jong-il for the second inter-Korean summit. Party chairman Chung Sye-kyun called Roh “a symbol of inter-Korean cooperation” and said he was “shocked and enraged” that the North proceeded with the test so soon after Roh’s death.
By Yoo Jee-ho [jeeho@joongang.co.kr]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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