US warns N. Korea over possible new atomic tests
Source: Agencies |
May 23, 2012, Wednesday
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NORTH Korea has ramped up work at its nuclear test site, according to an analysis of satellite images released yesterday, a day after a senior US envoy warned the North that an atomic test would unify the world in seeking swift, tough punishment.
Glyn Davies' comments after meetings on Monday in Seoul with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts reflect widespread worry that North Korea may follow a failed April 13 long-range rocket test with its third nuclear test. Both of its previous nuclear tests, in 2006 and 2009, followed rocket launches.
North Korea shot back in a statement, saying it will keep developing its nuclear program if the United States continues to "stifle" the country.
A Foreign Ministry spokesman made no direct threat of a nuclear test, but said North Korea feels compelled to strengthen its "nuclear deterrent" in the face of US hostility. However, the spokesman also said North Korea is open to dialogue to resolve the standoff.
Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korea professor at Seoul's Dongguk University, said North Korea's message is that "the US should come to the dialogue table (with North Korea) if it wants to stop its nuclear test."
Satellite images taken by DigitalGlobe and GeoEye in the past month show heightened activity at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site in North Korea's northeast, James Hardy, IHS Jane's Asia-Pacific specialist, said in a statement yesterday. The most recent image was from May 9.
South Korean intelligence officials said last month that satellite images showed North Korea digging a new tunnel in what appeared to be preparation for another nuclear test. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who took power in December following the death of his father Kim Jong Il, has vowed to place top priority on his country's military.
North Korea announced its planned rocket launch just two weeks after it had struck a food aid-for-nuclear freeze deal with Washington - the result of months of tedious negotiations that was seen as something of a breakthrough at the time.
Glyn Davies' comments after meetings on Monday in Seoul with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts reflect widespread worry that North Korea may follow a failed April 13 long-range rocket test with its third nuclear test. Both of its previous nuclear tests, in 2006 and 2009, followed rocket launches.
North Korea shot back in a statement, saying it will keep developing its nuclear program if the United States continues to "stifle" the country.
A Foreign Ministry spokesman made no direct threat of a nuclear test, but said North Korea feels compelled to strengthen its "nuclear deterrent" in the face of US hostility. However, the spokesman also said North Korea is open to dialogue to resolve the standoff.
Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korea professor at Seoul's Dongguk University, said North Korea's message is that "the US should come to the dialogue table (with North Korea) if it wants to stop its nuclear test."
Satellite images taken by DigitalGlobe and GeoEye in the past month show heightened activity at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site in North Korea's northeast, James Hardy, IHS Jane's Asia-Pacific specialist, said in a statement yesterday. The most recent image was from May 9.
South Korean intelligence officials said last month that satellite images showed North Korea digging a new tunnel in what appeared to be preparation for another nuclear test. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who took power in December following the death of his father Kim Jong Il, has vowed to place top priority on his country's military.
North Korea announced its planned rocket launch just two weeks after it had struck a food aid-for-nuclear freeze deal with Washington - the result of months of tedious negotiations that was seen as something of a breakthrough at the time.
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