North Korea says it has conducted nuclear test [+video]

A 2002 satellite image of the Yongbyon nuclear facility 100km north of Pyongyang. Picture / Reuters

SEOUL - North Korea said on Monday it had safely and successfully carried out an underground nuclear test, flying in the face of a warning from the UN Security Council.

"The nuclear test was conducted with indigenous wisdom and technology 100 per cent," North Korea's Korean Central News Agency said.

"It marks a historic event as it greatly encouraged and pleased the KPA [Korean People's Army] and people that have wished to have powerful self-reliant defence capability."

The report said there was no leak or danger from the test.

The UN Security Council last Friday urged North Korea not to carry out a test, warning Pyongyang of unspecified consequences if it did.

South Korea said a tremor of magnitude 3.58 to 3.7 had been detected in North Korea at 12.35pm NZT on Monday.

The US Geological Survey - which at first said it had not detected any activity - later said it had detected a 4.2 magnitude quake in North Korea at the same time.

International reaction

South Korea's presidential Blue House said it would support the UN Security Council immediately deliberating on North Korea's nuclear test and called on Pyongyang to scrap all plans related to its nuclear programme.

Spokesman Yoon Tae-young told reporters South Korea would sternly deal with the North over its announcement that it tested a nuclear device earlier in the day. South Korea has previously said a test would pose a grave threat to the Korean peninsula.

Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff said they had ordered all army units to step up their state of alert following the announcement.

Washington said a confirmed nuclear test would constitute a provocative act in defiance of the international community.

"US and South Korean intelligence detected a seismic event Sunday at a suspected nuclear test site in North Korea," White House spokesman Tony Snow said in a statement.

"A North Korean nuclear test would constitute a provocative act, in defiance of the will of the international community and of our call to refrain from actions that would aggravate tensions in northeast Asia," said Snow.

"We expect the Security Council to take immediate actions to respond to this unprovoked act," he said.

China denounced the test as "brazen" and demanded Pyongyang stop any action that would worsen the situation.

"The DPRK [ Democratic Republic of Korea] has ignored the widespread opposition of the international community and conducted a nuclear test brazenly on October 9," China's Foreign Ministry said in a statement on its website (www.fmprc.gov.cn ).

"The Chinese government is firmly opposed to this," the statement said.

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, speaking in Seoul after arriving from an ice-breaking visit to Beijing, also said Japan had no confirmation of a test by North Korea.

But Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki said a North Korean nuclear test, if confirmed, would be a grave threat to Japan,

"If it is true, it is a grave threat to our nation," he said.

"We will sternly protest," Shiozaki, the government's chief spokesman, told a news conference.

Japan's foreign minister later said Tokyo was considering further sanctions on North Korea and might also push for a fresh UN Security Council resolution if Pyongyang's nuclear test was confirmed.

"The prime minister's office has been working on options for additional sanctions over the past two or three days," Taro Aso told reporters.

"So probably Japan would take those actions, but it would have to decide which options to take," he said.

Advance warning

A US official said North Korea gave China a 20-minute warning of its test and immediately told the United States, Japan and South Korea.

Tokyo backs a hard line toward Pyongyang, while Seoul and Beijing - leery of instability on the peninsula - have previously cautioned against backing the North into a corner.

However, all three agree that Pyongyang should end its nearly year-long boycott of six-country talks on ending its nuclear weapons programme.

North Korea announced last week it would test a nuclear device saying its hand was forced by what it called US threats of nuclear war and economic sanctions. But it said it would not be the first to use a nuclear weapon.

Analysts say North Korea probably has enough fissile material to make six to eight nuclear bombs but probably does not have the technology to devise one small enough to mount on a missile.

The dollar rose to a seven-month high against the yen after the reports but analysts did expect long-term fallout unless the situation deteriorated further.

"The economy of North Korea is virtually closed from the rest of the world and its regional impact won't be very significant unless there was a major military confrontation," said Wang Qing, an economist at Bank of America in Hong Kong.

- REUTERS