Obama denounces N. Korea for nuke test, warns of consequences

By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, May 25 (Yonhap) -- U.S. President Barack Obama Monday denounced North
Korea for conducting nuclear and missile tests, warning of consequences unless
the North abandons its weapons of mass destruction.

"By acting in blatant defiance of the United Nations Security Council, North
Korea is directly and recklessly challenging the international community," Obama
said in a statement. "North Korea's behavior increases tensions and undermines
stability in Northeast Asia."
North Korea said that it conducted a underground nuclear test earlier in the day
to "bolster up its nuclear deterrent for self-defence."
South Korean officials said that they detected seismic tremors in the
northeastern city of Poongkye-ri, North Hamgyong Province, near the site where
the North detonated its first nuclear device in 2006.
The U.S. State Department also said the test was conducted.
"The U.S. Geological Survey confirmed that a seismic event took place consistent
with a test," a State Department official said. "We are analyzing the data."
North Korea's announcement on the nuclear test came following the North's warning
of possible missile launches, which had caused Japanese vessels to stay away from
waters off North Korea's northeastern coast.
North Korea has threatened to conduct further nuclear and long-range missile
tests, withdraw from multilateral nuclear talks and restart its disabled nuclear
facilities unless the U.N. Security Council apologized for sanctioning three
North Korean firms for the North's April 5 rocket launch.
Pyongyang insists the launch was to put a satellite into orbit, while the U.S.
and its allies see it as a cover for a ballistic missile test.
Obama said the North's nuclear test will only deepen its isolation.
"Such provocations will only serve to deepen North Korea's isolation," Obama
said. "It will not find international acceptance unless it abandons its pursuit
of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery."
The U.S. president said Washington will seek international actions.
"The danger posed by North Korea's threatening activities warrants action by the
international community," he said. "We have been and will continue working with
our allies and partners in the Six-Party Talks as well as other members of the
U.N. Security Council in the days ahead."
The security council will convene later Monday to discuss the North's nuclear
test, which is in violation of a series of council resolutions banning the North
from conducting nuclear and long range missiles.
North Korea conducted its first nuclear device in 2006 and fired long-range
ballistic missiles several times since 1998.
The U.S. and its allies believe North Korea has secured several nuclear weapons,
with plutonium produced from its only operating nuclear reactor in Yongbyon,
north of its capital Pyongyang.
North Korea appears not to have succeeded in making nuclear warheads suitable for
mounting on ballistic missiles.
The North's recent provocations are seen by many as its traditional brinkmanship
to get more concessions in bilateral talks with the U.S., which were suspended in
2001 by the hard-line Bush administration.
Under the Bill Clinton administration, high-level exchanges took place between
North Korea and the U.S. to address U.S. concerns over the North's nuclear and
ballistic missile capabilities, with then Secretary of State Madeleine Albright
and North Korea's Marshal Jo Myong-rok visiting each other's capitals.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other U.S. officials have said they are
ready to engage the North bilaterally, as well as through the six-party talks.
Albright recently said in a forum, "Ultimately, I think that what the North
Koreans want are bilateral talks with the United States."
Secretary Clinton has said that the Obama administration will continue the
six-party talks, although she said it "seems implausible if not impossible" that
North Korea will return to the six-party negotiations, at least for the time
being.
She also said she will not bow to North Korea's brinkmanship.
"The ball is in the North Korean court, and we are not concerned about chasing
after North Korea, about offering concessions to North Korea," Clinton said.
"They know what their obligations are. We are all urging that they return and
begin once again to act with us to move the agenda forward."
The six-party process has been in a lull since December, when North Korea refused
to accept a verification protocol of its nuclear facilities, saying the protocol
regime should be discussed in the third phase of denuclearization.
The process is currently in the second phase of disabling of the North's nuclear
facilities in return for 1 million tons of heavy fuel oil and other benefits.
The third and final phase calls for the complete and verifiable dismantlement of
the North's nuclear facilities in exchange for massive economic aid and political
and diplomatic benefits.
hdh@yna.co.kr
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