North Korea says further tests will depend on US approach

North Korean workers at the Chollima Steel Complex look at a copy of Rodong Sinmun of the North, which reported the country’s nuclear test, yesterday.

DPA/Seoul 

North Korea said yesterday that it could conduct further weapons tests if the US continues its aggressive approach while China urged a return to multilateral talks, news reports said.

Pyongyang on Tuesday carried out an underground test of its most powerful nuclear device to date, saying it was in response to recent sanctions.

“Whether the DPRK will take second and third tougher measures will entirely depend on the option to be taken by the US in the future,” the North’s official Korean Central News Agency said, using the official name of Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

North Korea said Tuesday’s test was in retaliation for a tightening of UN sanctions in January, which were in turn a response to Pyongyang’s rocket launch in December, which put a detectable object into orbit for the first time.

Pyongyang blamed the new sanctions on US intervention, which it called a “ferocious hostile act of the US which wantonly violated the DPRK’s legitimate right to launch a satellite for peaceful purposes.”

The “tougher measures” probably referred to another rocket launch or nuclear test, South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency said.

Tuesday’s test “physically demonstrated the high performance of the DPRK’s nuclear deterrent, which has become smaller, lighter and more diversified,” Yonhap quoted KCNA as saying.

Smaller warheads are important as North Korea’s delivery capabilities are thought to be limited. The diversification could refer to a shift from plutonium to uranium fuel, experts said, which would make fuel production harder for international monitors to detect.

US President Barack Obama on Tuesday vowed to lead the world in “taking firm action” against North Korea after Tuesday’s blast. “Provocations of the sort we saw last night will only further isolate them, as we stand by our allies (and) strengthen our own missile defence,” he said in his State of the Union address.

The test drew widespread condemnation, including from Pyongyang’s traditional and only diplomatic ally Beijing which expressed “resolute opposition” to the test and its commitment to talks to end North Korea’s nuclear programme. China urged South Korea and the US to return to multilateral dialogue, China’s Foreign Ministry said yesterday.

Minister Yang Jiechi spoke to US Secretary of State John Kerry by telephone late Tuesday, urging the resumption of stalled six-nation negotiations on ending Pyongyang’s weapons programme, it said.

“We urge all relevant parties to focus on the overall situation, respond appropriately, and prevent the situation from escalating,” Yang was quoted as saying.

The six-party talks between the two Koreas, the US, Japan, Russia and China have been stalled since 2009.

Yang also talked on the phone yesterday with his South Korean counterpart, Kim Sung Hwan, the ministry said. The Defence Ministry in Seoul said it would accelerate the construction of an integrated air and missile defence system, which is to have the capability of reaching all of North Korea in case of a missile launch.

Britain, Germany summon envoys

Britain summoned North Korea’s ambassador after the pariah state sparked global fury with its third nuclear test, the Foreign Office said. “I summoned North Korea’s ambassador today to stress in the strongest terms the UK’s condemnation of yesterday’s nuclear test,” Hugo Swire, a junior foreign minister, said in a statement. “This is a clear violation of UN Security Council Resolutions, and the UK supports the resolve of the UN to implement more stringent measures against the regime.” Swire called on the international community to “speak with one voice” in its response to Tuesday’s nuclear blast, which US and South Korean monitors said was much more powerful than North Korea’s previous tests in 2006 and 2009.

Meanwhile, Germany summoned the North Korean ambassador to protest at Pyongyang’s nuclear test earlier in the week, which sparked global condemnation.

It was “made clear” to the ambassador that the nuclear test was “a blatant breach of international law,” the office of Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said in a statement.