Kim pledges strong action as NK suggests ready for 3rd nuke test
Source: Agencies |
January 28, 2013, Monday
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NORTH Korean leader Kim Jong Un convened top security and foreign affairs officials and ordered them to take "substantial and high-profile important state measures," state media said yesterday, fueling speculation that he plans to push forward with a threat to explode a nuclear device in defiance of the United Nations.
The meeting of top officials led by Kim underscores Pyongyang's defiant stance in protest of UN Security Council punishment for a December rocket launch. The dispatch in the official Korean Central News Agency did not say when the meeting took place.
Last week, the Security Council condemned North Korea's December 12 launch of a long-range rocket as a violation of a ban against nuclear and missile activity. The council punished Pyongyang with more sanctions and ordered the country to refrain from a nuclear test - or face "significant action."
North Korea rejected the resolution and maintaining its right to launch a satellite into orbit under a peaceful civilian space program.
It warned that it would keep developing rockets and testing nuclear devices to counter what it sees as US hostility. A rare statement was issued last Thursday by the powerful National Defense Commission, the top governing body led by Kim.
North Korea cites a US military threat in the region as a key reason behind its drive to build nuclear weapons. The countries fought on opposite sides of the Korean War, which ended after three years in 1953 with an armistice, not a peace treaty. The US-led UN Command mans the Demilitarized Zone dividing North Korea and South Korea, and Washington stations over 28,000 troops in South Korea to protect its ally.
North Korea is estimated to have enough weaponized plutonium for four to eight bombs, according to American nuclear scientist Siegfried Hecker, who visited the country's nuclear complex northwest of Pyongyang in November 2010.
But it is not known if North Korean scientists have found a way to build nuclear warheads small enough to mount on a long-range missile.
Experts say regular tests are needed to perfect the technique, and another atomic test could take the country closer to its goal of building a warhead that can be mounted on a missile designed to strike the US. North Korea has carried out two nuclear tests, in 2006 and 2009.
South Korean officials say North Korea is technically ready to conduct a nuclear test in a matter of days.
North Korea has accused the US and South Korea of leading the push for the UN Security Council resolution.
Yesterday's KCNA dispatch said the UN punishment shows US hostility toward North Korea has reached its highest point.
The meeting of top officials led by Kim underscores Pyongyang's defiant stance in protest of UN Security Council punishment for a December rocket launch. The dispatch in the official Korean Central News Agency did not say when the meeting took place.
Last week, the Security Council condemned North Korea's December 12 launch of a long-range rocket as a violation of a ban against nuclear and missile activity. The council punished Pyongyang with more sanctions and ordered the country to refrain from a nuclear test - or face "significant action."
North Korea rejected the resolution and maintaining its right to launch a satellite into orbit under a peaceful civilian space program.
It warned that it would keep developing rockets and testing nuclear devices to counter what it sees as US hostility. A rare statement was issued last Thursday by the powerful National Defense Commission, the top governing body led by Kim.
North Korea cites a US military threat in the region as a key reason behind its drive to build nuclear weapons. The countries fought on opposite sides of the Korean War, which ended after three years in 1953 with an armistice, not a peace treaty. The US-led UN Command mans the Demilitarized Zone dividing North Korea and South Korea, and Washington stations over 28,000 troops in South Korea to protect its ally.
North Korea is estimated to have enough weaponized plutonium for four to eight bombs, according to American nuclear scientist Siegfried Hecker, who visited the country's nuclear complex northwest of Pyongyang in November 2010.
But it is not known if North Korean scientists have found a way to build nuclear warheads small enough to mount on a long-range missile.
Experts say regular tests are needed to perfect the technique, and another atomic test could take the country closer to its goal of building a warhead that can be mounted on a missile designed to strike the US. North Korea has carried out two nuclear tests, in 2006 and 2009.
South Korean officials say North Korea is technically ready to conduct a nuclear test in a matter of days.
North Korea has accused the US and South Korea of leading the push for the UN Security Council resolution.
Yesterday's KCNA dispatch said the UN punishment shows US hostility toward North Korea has reached its highest point.
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