20.30 The North Korean test has united the world in condemnation. Here's Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, decrying the North's actions:
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday he expected the UN Security Council to agree on "an adequate response" to North Korea's controversial nuclear test.
"Such actions that are worth condemnation require an adequate response," he said via a translator on a visit to Pretoria.
Hours later the 15-member UN Security Council "strongly condemned" the blast after emergency talks on the new proliferation crisis. Permanent members - the United States, China, Russia, Britain and France - all denounced North Korea. Pyongyang's ally China even summoned the North's ambassador to Beijing to lodge a protest.
Russia's foreign ministry earlier slammed the test as "contempt for UN Security Council resolutions". It said it was "doubly sad" that the nuclear test was carried out by a government "with which our country has had a long history of good-neighbourly relations".
19.07 Barack Obama made some last minute changes to his State of the Union address tonight in the wake of the nuclear test - but he has not revealed what he'll say, telling reporters only: "We'll find out everything I've got to say tonight."
Earlier, the US President branded the test a "highly provocative act" that warranted international action. He and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak spoke this afternoon, and agreed to work together to face the growing threat from Pyongyang.
18.44 The US State Department says that Washington was warned by North Korea that it was set to conduct the test - though it is not clear how much warning officials were given.
17.37 It's still not clear what the UN can do to up the sanctions already in place against North Korea. Diplomats fear that, despite its clear opposition to the launch, China will resist imposing tougher sanctions. Reuters reports:
Diplomats say negotiations on new sanctions could take weeks since China is likely to resist tough new measures for fear that new sanctions could lead to further retaliation by the North Korean leadership.
Beijing has also been concerned that tougher sanctions could further weaken the North's economy and prompt a flood of refugees into China...
Eventually, UN diplomats predicted, China will most likely approve some form of sanctions against North Korea, although it is not clear how harsh Beijing will permit the measures to be.
16.45 Here's another great picture of North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un - this time from December, once again smoking a cigarette, celebrating the missile test:
16.41 Mark Hughes, the Telegraph's New York correspondent, reports that Susan Rice, the United States ambassador to the United Nations, described the nuclear test as “highly provocative” and added: “Countries around the world including every member of the Security Council agree this test was an extremely regrettable act and further undermines international peace and security.”
She added that the test “increases the risk of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction”.
“North Korea does not and will not benefit from violating international law. Far from achieving its stated goal of becoming a string and prosperous nation, the DPRK has instead isolated and impoverished its people through its ill-advised pursuit of nuclear weapons,” she said.
Ms Rice added that the test “threatens the security of a number of countries, including the United States”.
An official points to North Korea's Kilju, where the North conducted a nuclear test, on a map on a screen at the Korea Meteorological Agency in Seoul (Yonhap/EPA)
16.03 The UN Security Council has "strongly condemned" North Korea's test as a "grave violation" and announced that it will begin work immediately on "appropriate measures".
A press statement approved by all 15 council members after its emergency session this morning branded the test "a clear threat to international peace and security."
The council pointed out that in a resolution it approved unanimously last month stepping up sanctions for North Korea's missile test in December it promised to take "significant action" in the event of a new nuclear test.
"In line with this commitment and the gravity of this violation, the members of the Security Council will begin work immediately on appropriate measures in a Security Council resolution," the statement said.
US ambassador to the UN Susan Rice is holding a press conference now in which she has vowed that Pyongyang will face "increasing isolation and pressure".
15.20 John Swenson-Wright, a Korea expert and senior fellow at Chatham House, says North Korea is perfectly capable of exaggerating the size and potency of the test, in order to scare the world into negotiations. "It would be rationally in their interests to do that," he tells us.
14.47 Leon Panetta, the outgoing US Defense Secretary, has just characterised North Korea as a "serious threat to the US". It's unusually strong language from the US. AFP quotes Mr Panetta as saying at a farewell ceremony:
We saw what North Korea has done these last few weeks with a missile test and now a nuclear test... North Korea represents a serious threat to the US. We've got to be prepared to deal with that.
North Korean military officers bow at an image of late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il during a national meeting of top party and military officials on the eve of Kim's first death anniversary in Pyongyang
14.20 The UN Security Council has opened emergency talks on North Korea's nuclear test, as world powers called for swift action against Pyongyang.
The 15-nation council passed a resolution last month threatening "significant action" against North Korea in the event of a new nuclear test or missile launch.
14.08 Following confirmation that North Korea conducted a nuclear test in the country, David Blair, the Telegraph's chief foreign correspondent says that there is "little that the rest of the world can do in response to the incident":
13.45 On February 5th, North Korea posted a video on YouTube depicting a US city resembling New York engulfed in flames after an apparent missile attack:
The footage was uploaded by the North's official website, Uriminzokkiri, which distributes news and propaganda from the state media.
The video is shot as a dream sequence, with a young man seeing himself on board a North Korean space shuttle launched into orbit by the same type of rocket Pyongyang successfully tested in December.
12.49 US intelligence agencies have found that North Korea probably conducted an underground nuclear explosion with a yield of "approximately several kilotons," the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said.
12.28 China's foreign minister has called North Korea's ambassador in for a dressing-down and demanded his country's cease making further threats, in a show of Beijing's displeasureover its earstwhile ally's latest nuclear test.
Yang Jiechi delivered a "stern representation" to Ji Jae Ryong and expressed China's "strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition" to Tuesday's test, the ministry said in a statement posted to its website.
Yang Jiechi demanded that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea side cease talk that further escalates the situation and swiftly return to the correct channel of dialogue and negotiation.
11.53 North Korea's foreign ministry has said its nuclear test was an act of self-defence in response to hostility from the United States and that it will take stronger follow-up actions if Washington keeps up its belligerence.
An unnamed spokesman for the ministry, which acts as Pyongyang's official voice to the outside world, said in a statement carried by the official KCNA news agency:
This nuclear test was only the first response we took with maximum restraint.
If the United States continues to come out with hostility and complicates the situation, we will be forced to take stronger, second and third responses in consecutive steps.
11.47 It is not yet clear how Kim Jong-un celebrated the "successful" nuclear test. A couple of weeks ago he was photographed smoking a cigarette while touring a new hospital.
11.42 North Korea has told the UN disarmament forum that it would never bow to resolutions on its nuclear programme and that prospects were "gloomy" for the denuclearisation of the divided Korean peninsula because of a "hostile" US policy. Jon Yong Ryong, first secretary of North Korea's mission in Geneva, told the Conference on Disarmament, referring to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK):
The US and their followers are sadly mistaken if they miscalculate the DPRK would respect the entirely unreasonable resolutions against it. The DPRK will never bow to any resolutions.
If Seoul truly wants peace and security on the Korean peninsula, it should urge the U.S. first to terminate its hostile policy towards DPRK on an impartial basis.
11.12 William Hague, speaking in Paris, has called for more pressure from the UN Security Council on North Korea and has called for Chinese support on sanctions, Reuters reports.
10.42 South Korea's spy agency has warned that North Korea might conduct a second nuclear test.
The warning came during a briefing to lawmakers by the head of the National Intelligence Service, Won Hei-Soon, Yonhap news agency reported.
The briefing raised "the possibility for another nuclear test by the North" or a ballistic missile test once the UN Security Council begins discussions on imposing new sanctions on Pyongyang, Yonhap said.
"The North may stage other provocations to distract international efforts to impose more sanctions on the North or to push China to eventually side with Pyongyang," Won was quoted as saying.
10.34 Tibor Toth, executive secretary of the monitoring agencyThe Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organisation, said in a statement that North Korea's action "constitutes a clear threat to international peace and security and challenges efforts to strengthen global nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation."
He added: "I'm gravely concerned by this action, which deserves universal condemnation ... Nuclear testing needs to end once and for all."
10.17 Breaking news from the Vienna-based Comprehensive Nuclear-Test Ban Treaty Organisation is that the blast created by the nuclear test was "roughly twice as big as the 2009 test".
09.34 The European Union's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton has condemned North Korea's third nuclear test and told Pyongyang to refrain from further provocative actions:
This nuclear test is a further blatant challenge to the global non-proliferation regime and an outright violation of the (North Korea's) international obligations not to produce or test nuclear weapons.
We once again urge (North Korea) to abandon its nuclear weapons programme, including its uranium enrichment programme, in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner.
09.28 France and India join the list of "outraged" and "concerned" countries.
09.04 Even Iran has now disapproved of North Korea's nuclear test - remarkable considering its own alleged ambitions in that area.
09.03 Germany says UN should consider more sanctions against North Korea. Condemning the test "in the strongest possible terms", German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said in a statement:
Further sanctions against the regime in Pyongyang should now be considered. The international community must have a clear position as a response to this new provocation.
08.35 The nuclear test came around five hours after Pyongyang vowed further missile tests. A meeting of the ruling workers party politburo "stressed the need to continue launching satellites ... and powerful long-range rockets".
08.28 China expresses "firm opposition" to North Korea nuclear test.
The statement from the foreign ministry in Beijing called for a calm response by all sides and said issues should be resolved within the framework of long-stalled denuclearization talks involving North Korea, China, the US, South Korea, Japan and Russia:
We strongly urge the DPRK to honour its commitment to denuclearisation, and not to take any actions which might worsen the situation.
08.12 Japan's defense ministry is reportedly preparing to fly Air Self Defence Force aircraft to survey radiation over its territory.
The Japan Meteorological Agency said the seismic waves from North Korea it observed at around noon local time were similar to those that were detected during Pyongyang's previous nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009.
The agency, which measured the magnitude of the 11:57 a.m. tremor at 5.2, said the percussions it detected about two minutes later had a relatively powerful primary wave and an obscure secondary wave - common characteristics of the tremors following the two previous nuclear tests.
08.08 North Korea itself has been trumpeting the "successful" launch - the first nuclear test since its new, youthful leader Kim Jong-un took over from his father, Kim Jong-il. It claimed it was a response to US "hostility". It also claimed the technological breakthrough with a "miniaturised" device - a claim that is of particular concern because it suggests the North is a step closer to fitting a nuclear warhead onto a ballistic missile.
08.04 Japan, meanwhile, said the test represented a "grave threat", that "cannot be tolerated". Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said in a statement:
(The test) is a grave threat to the safety of our country and a serious challenge against the global framework of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation.
07.56 President Barack Obama has also spoken out against the nuclear test. Washington Correspondent Jon Swaine reports Mr Obama promised the US would "take steps necessary to defend ourselves and our allies" in response to the latest nuclear test, which he described as a "highly provocative act" that breached United Nations Security Council resolutions and international agreements.
As members of the UN Security Council prepared to hold an emergency meeting in New York, Mr Obama pledged to "pursue firm action" alongside America's allies:
North Korea’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs constitute a threat to US national security and to international peace and security.
The United States remains vigilant in the face of North Korean provocations and steadfast in our defense commitments to allies in the region.
These provocations do not make North Korea more secure. Far from achieving its stated goal of becoming a strong and prosperous nation, North Korea has instead increasingly isolated and impoverished its people through its ill-advised pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery.
07.41 William Hague was up early this morning to condemn the nuclear test, according to a Foreign Office statement put out shortly after 05.30am. Mr Hague said:
It appears that North Korea carried out a nuclear test at 11.57KST today. I strongly condemn this development, which is a violation of UN Security Council Resolutions 1718, 1874 and 2087. North Korea’s development of its nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities poses a threat to international and regional security.
Its repeated provocations only serve to increase regional tension, and hinder the prospects for lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula.
Source : Telegraph
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday he expected the UN Security Council to agree on "an adequate response" to North Korea's controversial nuclear test."Such actions that are worth condemnation require an adequate response," he said via a translator on a visit to Pretoria.
Hours later the 15-member UN Security Council "strongly condemned" the blast after emergency talks on the new proliferation crisis. Permanent members - the United States, China, Russia, Britain and France - all denounced North Korea. Pyongyang's ally China even summoned the North's ambassador to Beijing to lodge a protest.
Russia's foreign ministry earlier slammed the test as "contempt for UN Security Council resolutions". It said it was "doubly sad" that the nuclear test was carried out by a government "with which our country has had a long history of good-neighbourly relations".
Earlier, the US President branded the test a "highly provocative act" that warranted international action. He and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak spoke this afternoon, and agreed to work together to face the growing threat from Pyongyang.
18.44 The US State Department says that Washington was warned by North Korea that it was set to conduct the test - though it is not clear how much warning officials were given.
17.37 It's still not clear what the UN can do to up the sanctions already in place against North Korea. Diplomats fear that, despite its clear opposition to the launch, China will resist imposing tougher sanctions. Reuters reports:
Diplomats say negotiations on new sanctions could take weeks since China is likely to resist tough new measures for fear that new sanctions could lead to further retaliation by the North Korean leadership.Beijing has also been concerned that tougher sanctions could further weaken the North's economy and prompt a flood of refugees into China...
Eventually, UN diplomats predicted, China will most likely approve some form of sanctions against North Korea, although it is not clear how harsh Beijing will permit the measures to be.
16.45 Here's another great picture of North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un - this time from December, once again smoking a cigarette, celebrating the missile test:
16.41 Mark Hughes, the Telegraph's New York correspondent, reports that Susan Rice, the United States ambassador to the United Nations, described the nuclear test as “highly provocative” and added: “Countries around the world including every member of the Security Council agree this test was an extremely regrettable act and further undermines international peace and security.”
She added that the test “increases the risk of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction”.
“North Korea does not and will not benefit from violating international law. Far from achieving its stated goal of becoming a string and prosperous nation, the DPRK has instead isolated and impoverished its people through its ill-advised pursuit of nuclear weapons,” she said.
Ms Rice added that the test “threatens the security of a number of countries, including the United States”.
An official points to North Korea's Kilju, where the North conducted a nuclear test, on a map on a screen at the Korea Meteorological Agency in Seoul (Yonhap/EPA)
16.03 The UN Security Council has "strongly condemned" North Korea's test as a "grave violation" and announced that it will begin work immediately on "appropriate measures".
A press statement approved by all 15 council members after its emergency session this morning branded the test "a clear threat to international peace and security."
The council pointed out that in a resolution it approved unanimously last month stepping up sanctions for North Korea's missile test in December it promised to take "significant action" in the event of a new nuclear test.
"In line with this commitment and the gravity of this violation, the members of the Security Council will begin work immediately on appropriate measures in a Security Council resolution," the statement said.
US ambassador to the UN Susan Rice is holding a press conference now in which she has vowed that Pyongyang will face "increasing isolation and pressure".
15.20 John Swenson-Wright, a Korea expert and senior fellow at Chatham House, says North Korea is perfectly capable of exaggerating the size and potency of the test, in order to scare the world into negotiations. "It would be rationally in their interests to do that," he tells us.
We saw what North Korea has done these last few weeks with a missile test and now a nuclear test... North Korea represents a serious threat to the US. We've got to be prepared to deal with that.North Korean military officers bow at an image of late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il during a national meeting of top party and military officials on the eve of Kim's first death anniversary in Pyongyang
14.20 The UN Security Council has opened emergency talks on North Korea's nuclear test, as world powers called for swift action against Pyongyang.
The 15-nation council passed a resolution last month threatening "significant action" against North Korea in the event of a new nuclear test or missile launch.
14.08 Following confirmation that North Korea conducted a nuclear test in the country, David Blair, the Telegraph's chief foreign correspondent says that there is "little that the rest of the world can do in response to the incident":
13.45 On February 5th, North Korea posted a video on YouTube depicting a US city resembling New York engulfed in flames after an apparent missile attack:
The footage was uploaded by the North's official website, Uriminzokkiri, which distributes news and propaganda from the state media.The video is shot as a dream sequence, with a young man seeing himself on board a North Korean space shuttle launched into orbit by the same type of rocket Pyongyang successfully tested in December.
12.49 US intelligence agencies have found that North Korea probably conducted an underground nuclear explosion with a yield of "approximately several kilotons," the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said.
12.28 China's foreign minister has called North Korea's ambassador in for a dressing-down and demanded his country's cease making further threats, in a show of Beijing's displeasureover its earstwhile ally's latest nuclear test.
Yang Jiechi delivered a "stern representation" to Ji Jae Ryong and expressed China's "strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition" to Tuesday's test, the ministry said in a statement posted to its website.
Yang Jiechi demanded that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea side cease talk that further escalates the situation and swiftly return to the correct channel of dialogue and negotiation.11.53 North Korea's foreign ministry has said its nuclear test was an act of self-defence in response to hostility from the United States and that it will take stronger follow-up actions if Washington keeps up its belligerence.
An unnamed spokesman for the ministry, which acts as Pyongyang's official voice to the outside world, said in a statement carried by the official KCNA news agency:
This nuclear test was only the first response we took with maximum restraint.If the United States continues to come out with hostility and complicates the situation, we will be forced to take stronger, second and third responses in consecutive steps.
11.47 It is not yet clear how Kim Jong-un celebrated the "successful" nuclear test. A couple of weeks ago he was photographed smoking a cigarette while touring a new hospital.
11.42 North Korea has told the UN disarmament forum that it would never bow to resolutions on its nuclear programme and that prospects were "gloomy" for the denuclearisation of the divided Korean peninsula because of a "hostile" US policy. Jon Yong Ryong, first secretary of North Korea's mission in Geneva, told the Conference on Disarmament, referring to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK):
The US and their followers are sadly mistaken if they miscalculate the DPRK would respect the entirely unreasonable resolutions against it. The DPRK will never bow to any resolutions.If Seoul truly wants peace and security on the Korean peninsula, it should urge the U.S. first to terminate its hostile policy towards DPRK on an impartial basis.
11.12 William Hague, speaking in Paris, has called for more pressure from the UN Security Council on North Korea and has called for Chinese support on sanctions, Reuters reports.
10.42 South Korea's spy agency has warned that North Korea might conduct a second nuclear test.
The warning came during a briefing to lawmakers by the head of the National Intelligence Service, Won Hei-Soon, Yonhap news agency reported.
The briefing raised "the possibility for another nuclear test by the North" or a ballistic missile test once the UN Security Council begins discussions on imposing new sanctions on Pyongyang, Yonhap said.
"The North may stage other provocations to distract international efforts to impose more sanctions on the North or to push China to eventually side with Pyongyang," Won was quoted as saying.
10.34 Tibor Toth, executive secretary of the monitoring agencyThe Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organisation, said in a statement that North Korea's action "constitutes a clear threat to international peace and security and challenges efforts to strengthen global nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation."
He added: "I'm gravely concerned by this action, which deserves universal condemnation ... Nuclear testing needs to end once and for all."
10.17 Breaking news from the Vienna-based Comprehensive Nuclear-Test Ban Treaty Organisation is that the blast created by the nuclear test was "roughly twice as big as the 2009 test".
09.34 The European Union's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton has condemned North Korea's third nuclear test and told Pyongyang to refrain from further provocative actions:
This nuclear test is a further blatant challenge to the global non-proliferation regime and an outright violation of the (North Korea's) international obligations not to produce or test nuclear weapons.We once again urge (North Korea) to abandon its nuclear weapons programme, including its uranium enrichment programme, in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner.
09.28 France and India join the list of "outraged" and "concerned" countries.
09.04 Even Iran has now disapproved of North Korea's nuclear test - remarkable considering its own alleged ambitions in that area.
09.03 Germany says UN should consider more sanctions against North Korea. Condemning the test "in the strongest possible terms", German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said in a statement:
Further sanctions against the regime in Pyongyang should now be considered. The international community must have a clear position as a response to this new provocation.08.35 The nuclear test came around five hours after Pyongyang vowed further missile tests. A meeting of the ruling workers party politburo "stressed the need to continue launching satellites ... and powerful long-range rockets".
08.28 China expresses "firm opposition" to North Korea nuclear test.
The statement from the foreign ministry in Beijing called for a calm response by all sides and said issues should be resolved within the framework of long-stalled denuclearization talks involving North Korea, China, the US, South Korea, Japan and Russia:
We strongly urge the DPRK to honour its commitment to denuclearisation, and not to take any actions which might worsen the situation.08.12 Japan's defense ministry is reportedly preparing to fly Air Self Defence Force aircraft to survey radiation over its territory.
The Japan Meteorological Agency said the seismic waves from North Korea it observed at around noon local time were similar to those that were detected during Pyongyang's previous nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009.
The agency, which measured the magnitude of the 11:57 a.m. tremor at 5.2, said the percussions it detected about two minutes later had a relatively powerful primary wave and an obscure secondary wave - common characteristics of the tremors following the two previous nuclear tests.
08.08 North Korea itself has been trumpeting the "successful" launch - the first nuclear test since its new, youthful leader Kim Jong-un took over from his father, Kim Jong-il. It claimed it was a response to US "hostility". It also claimed the technological breakthrough with a "miniaturised" device - a claim that is of particular concern because it suggests the North is a step closer to fitting a nuclear warhead onto a ballistic missile.
08.04 Japan, meanwhile, said the test represented a "grave threat", that "cannot be tolerated". Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said in a statement:
(The test) is a grave threat to the safety of our country and a serious challenge against the global framework of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation.07.56 President Barack Obama has also spoken out against the nuclear test. Washington Correspondent Jon Swaine reports Mr Obama promised the US would "take steps necessary to defend ourselves and our allies" in response to the latest nuclear test, which he described as a "highly provocative act" that breached United Nations Security Council resolutions and international agreements.
As members of the UN Security Council prepared to hold an emergency meeting in New York, Mr Obama pledged to "pursue firm action" alongside America's allies:
North Korea’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs constitute a threat to US national security and to international peace and security.The United States remains vigilant in the face of North Korean provocations and steadfast in our defense commitments to allies in the region.
These provocations do not make North Korea more secure. Far from achieving its stated goal of becoming a strong and prosperous nation, North Korea has instead increasingly isolated and impoverished its people through its ill-advised pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery.
07.41 William Hague was up early this morning to condemn the nuclear test, according to a Foreign Office statement put out shortly after 05.30am. Mr Hague said:
It appears that North Korea carried out a nuclear test at 11.57KST today. I strongly condemn this development, which is a violation of UN Security Council Resolutions 1718, 1874 and 2087. North Korea’s development of its nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities poses a threat to international and regional security.Its repeated provocations only serve to increase regional tension, and hinder the prospects for lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula.
Source : Telegraph
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