NK presses on with nuke test

President Lee Myung-bak, right, and President-elect Park Geun-hye enter a conference room in Cheong Wa Dae to discuss countermeasures against North Korea's nuclear test, Tuesday. / Yonhap

Blast bigger than previous 2; Park, Lee issue condemnation

By Chung Min-uck

North Korea conducted a third nuclear test at an underground site in Punggye-ri in the northeast of the country, Tuesday morning.

According to Seoul officials, the size of the blast was estimated at 6 to 7 kilotons on the basis of the aftershock, which was bigger than the previous two blasts but still short of 10 kilotons, the threshold for a "significant' level of nuclear capability.

President Lee Myung-bak and President-elect Park Geun-hye held an emergency meeting at Cheong Wa Dae, and condemned the North's action.

"We will stress all steps, including taking it to the United Nations, to make the North give up its nuclear weapons," said senior presidential secretary Chun Young-woo after a National Security Council meeting presided over by Lee.

"We will push for the early deployment of missiles, which are under development, that can cover the North in its entirety."

Park also issued a strong condemnation through her spokeswoman.

"We won't tolerate North Korea's nuclear weapons," she said. "The North should realize it has nothing to gain from this provocation."

North Korea's state-run Korean Central News Agency reported at 2:43 p.m. it had conducted a nuclear test with a "greater blasting power," using "a device, smaller and lighter in scale."

"Our test is aimed at defending our sovereignty and national security against the United States' act of flagrant hostility against our right to deploy a satellite for a peaceful purpose," it said.

DigitalGlobe imagery from Jan. 28 shows the site of the west entrance to the tunnel used in the 2009 nuclear test conducted by North Korea. The bridge destroyed in autumn's flooding has been rebuilt and the roads and site grounds indicate that the site is active.
/ Captured from an Institute for Science and International Security report

North Korea's foreign ministry later said in a statement it will conduct "second and third rounds of reactions if the U.S. continues to react with hostility," calling the latest nuclear test as its first self-defense countermeasure against such actions. But it fell short of specifying what these will be.

Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin said during a meeting of the National Assembly National Defense Committee, "We were notified of the North's planned test in advance on Monday by the United States."

The North had conveyed its test schedule to Washington through its New York channel, he said.

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The test was first detected by the Korea Meteorological Administration which registered a magnitude 5.0 seismic event at around 11:58 a.m. with the epicenter in Gilju County where the Punggye-ri underground nuclear test site is located, the Ministry of National Defense said.

Later, it changed its estimate to 4.9.

Judging by the reference to a "clean, no-impact blast to the environment," in its announcement, observers say the bomb could have been made of highly enriched uranium (HEU) instead of plutonium. The North used plutonium in previous nuclear tests.

Regarding the matter, the defense ministry said that it couldn't definitely say what material was used.

"Some say a boosted fission weapon could have been used but considering the strength of the bomb it couldn't belong in that category," said an Army officer.

A successful use of a boosted fission weapon is considered a stage to developing a thermonuclear weapon or "hydrogen bomb."

In a meeting with lawmakers of the National Assembly Intelligence Committee, the National Intelligence Service (NIS) said that it was too early to say the North had succeeded in weaponizing its nuclear technology.

"North Korea has yet to complete the technology for shrinking and lightening a nuclear device to build a missile warhead," the NIS said.

The Stalinist regime's first and second tests conducted in 2006 and 2009 had yields of 1 and 2 to 6 kilotons, respectively, indicating the North has increased the destructive potential of its nuclear device.

But since the North is aiming to miniaturize its weapons, officials here carefully speculate that Pyongyang could conduct additional nuclear tests soon.

The ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Command raised its Watch Condition, or Watchcon, to level 2 from 3, to effectively cope with a possible military threat by the North.

Pyongyang threatened to conduct a nuclear test after a U.N. Security Council (UNSC) resolution condemned its long-range rocket launch in December, which toughened sanctions on the isolated nation.

Following a request by Seoul, which took on the rotating presidency of the UNSC for this month, the international body was slated to hold an emergency meeting Tuesday, a high-ranking official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said.

Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan is currently in New York and will attend the meeting. Harsher sanctions are expected to be imposed on North Korea.

The latest UNSC resolution contained a trigger clause which commands the council to respond automatically with "signification action" if North Korea moves to launch another missile or conduct a nuclear test