N. Korea announces nuclear test, fires 3 short-range missiles+

SEOUL, May 25 Kyodo -
North Korea carried out its second underground nuclear test and fired three
short-range missiles toward the Sea of Japan on Monday, prompting the
scheduling of an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council.

North Korea, through its official media, said it ''successfully conducted one
more underground nuclear test on May 25 as part of the measures to bolster up
its nuclear deterrent for self-defense.''
South Korean Defense Minister Lee Sang Hee told parliament that North Korea
test-fired three short-range missiles from its eastern coast after declaring
that it had successfully conducted a nuclear test.
The nuclear test was ''safely conducted'' and its results ''helped
satisfactorily settle the scientific and technological problems arising in
further increasing the power of nuclear weapons,'' the Korean Central News
Agency report said.
Russia's Itar-Tass news agency quoted a high-ranking Russian defense official
as saying the power of the nuclear explosive device tested in the northeastern
part of North Korea, where its first nuclear underground test was conducted in
October 2006, was about 20 kilotons.
Japan on Monday proposed that Russia, which currently holds the rotating
monthly presidency of the Security Council, convene an urgent meeting to
discuss North Korea's nuclear test.
According to a Russian news report, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said
the U.N. Security Council will meet in New York at 4 p.m. Monday local time.
Japanese Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone said he and his South Korean
counterpart Yu Myung Hwan reached a consensus on the need to hold an emergency
council meeting during talks in Hanoi on the sidelines of a gathering of
Asia-Europe Meeting ministers.
''The nuclear test violates a U.N. Security Council resolution. (We) strongly
denounce and protest against it,'' Nakasone told reporters after his talks with
Yu.
In Tokyo, Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura told reporters the North
Korean test was ''absolutely impermissible'' and vowed ''adamant responses.''
U.S. President Barack Obama, in a statement, called North Korea's nuclear test
a ''violation of international law'' which, together with other provocative
activities involving its ballistic missile program, ''warrants action by the
international community.''
''By acting in blatant defiance of the United Nations Security Council, North
Korea is directly and recklessly challenging the international community.'''
Obama said.
After Pyongyang conducted its first nuclear test in 2006, the Security Council
unanimously adopted a resolution expressing ''the gravest concern'' and calling
for all U.N. members to take wide-ranging economic and diplomatic sanctions.
Last April, Pyongyang had threatened to carry out further nuclear tests as well
as test-firings of intercontinental ballistic missiles unless the U.N. Security
Council apologized for censuring it over its rocket launch earlier the same
month.
The KCNA report did not mention where the nuclear test took place, but South
Korean Presidential spokesman Lee Dong Kwan said an artificial earthquake with
a magnitude of 4.5 was detected at 9:54 a.m. in Poongkye-ri in Kilju County of
North Hamkyong Province in the northeastern part of North Korea.
The Japan Meteorological Agency said it detected seismic waves from North Korea
around 9:54 a.m., with the focus located almost identical to the origin of
percussions from the North's first nuclear test, in an area where seismic
activity is rare.
According to Obama, North Korea also ''appears to also have attempted a
short-range missile launch.''
The source said the missile was fired from the same coastal base used by North
Korea to test-launch a long-range rocket on April 5, a northeastern base in
Musudan-ri, located in Hwadae County of North Hamkyong Province.
==Kyodo
2009-05-25 23:31:56