North Korea threatens New nuclear test.. JR topics

North Korea threatens New nuclear test

By Simon Mundy in Seoul

North Korea has threatened to carry out a third nuclear test, without specifying when, in an angry response to new UN sanctions imposed after Pyongyang’s most recent missile launch.

On Tuesday the UN Security Council unanimously passed a resolution condemning Pyongyang’s first successful satellite launch on December 12, and extending asset freezes on North Korean companies and individuals.

The country’s top military body promised to launch more long-range rockets “one after another”, as well as “a nuclear test of higher level”. These acts would be targeted “against the US, the sworn enemy of the Korean people”, it added.In a statement published on Thursday, North Korea’s National Defence Commission rejected criticism of the launch, which showed progress towards intercontinental ballistic missile capability.

North Korea has frequently made violent threats against the US, which it accuses of plotting to overthrow the regime in Pyongyang. But the explicit vow to carry out a third nuclear test will cause alarm, particularly in Washington, Seoul, Tokyo and Beijing

It would be a particularly unwelcome development for China under Xi Jinping, the ruling Communist party’s new leader. Beijing, a longstanding ally of North Korea, has tended to resist tough action against the country, and is overwhelmingly Pyongyang’s biggest trading partner. But it backed the new sanctions against Pyongyang agreed this week.

At a press briefing Thursday, the spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry called for restraint, particularly from North Korea.

“We hope the relevant party [North Korea] can remain calm and act and speak in a cautious and prudent way and not take any steps which may further worsen the situation,” said ministry spokesman Hong Lei, according to Reuters.

The US’ special representative for North Korea, Glyn Davies, urged the regime in Pyongyang not to carry through with its threat.

“We hope they don’t do it. We call on them not to do it,” said Mr Davies after arriving in Seoul on a scheduled visit. “This is not a moment to increase tensions on the Korean peninsula.”

Suspicions had been growing about an imminent test, which would follow previous detonations of nuclear devices in 2006 and 2009. Late last month, satellite imagery analysts at Johns Hopkins University said North Korea’s nuclear test site was “at a state of readiness that could allow them to conduct a detonation as soon as two weeks after such a decision is made”.

A test would complicate the plans of Park Geun-hye, South Korea’s incoming president, to pursue dialogue with North Korea. Ms Park, who takes office on February 25, has pledged to overlook previous political problems to boost humanitarian aid to the North.