NZ backs China in N Korea nuclear bomb row

Prime Minister Helen Clark says North Korea should heed the voice of China before going ahead with plans to test a nuclear bomb.

North Korea announced last week it would conduct a nuclear weapons test. Although the North has long claimed to have nuclear weapons, the test would be the first incontestable proof of its capabilities.

In the latest development, North Korea's main ally China joined Japan in sending a strong message on Sunday that a nuclear test by the North "cannot be tolerated".

Helen Clark said the international furore after the test announcement showed no-one wanted North Korea to have the weapons.

"We've consistently urged the North Koreans to get back into the six-party talks," she told Breakfast on TV One.

"We always -- when we meet with Chinese leaders and representatives -- impress on them our view that China holds the key to denuclearising North Korea."

She said China's position was crucial. "When North Korea spurns China, it really has gone right back into its shell. And that makes it dangerous."

Last week Foreign Minister Winston Peters expressed New Zealand's condemnation of the planned test, saying it was intolerable.

- NZPA