North Korea conducts nuclear test

A White House official said late last night that the United States condemned the nuclear test and would seek action in the Security Council today.

North Korea's official KCNA news agency said the test took place at 10:36 a.m. local time today, or 9:36 p.m. yesterday in the United States.

A seismic tremor, measured by the US Geological Survey at 4.2, was detected in northeastern North Korea, according to South Korean and US officials. The test site was reportedly near the city of Kilju.

The nuclear test ``marks a historic event as it greatly encouraged and pleased the [military] and people," the KCNA report said. ``It will contribute to defending the peace and stability on the Korean peninsula and in the area around it."

US military officials in Washington and Honolulu were analyzing the seismic data and other intelligence information, including satellite imagery and atmospheric samples, and could not yet determine the size of the test.

The test would not necessarily have to be similar to the sophisticated controlled detonations conducted by other nuclear powers.

Philip E. Coyle III, the Pentagon's former chief weapons tester who previously ran the Nevada Test Site, where the United States conducted secret nuclear tests during the Cold War, said North Korea would need only to conduct a small-scale test to demonstrate its ability to build a nuclear arsenal.

``It could be a really, really low yield test," Coyle said. ``It could have been a dud, but they announced it as a success anyway. The US has done that before. They could say it is a success because they learned something."

But the test, the first since India and Pakistan conducted a series of underground nuclear blasts in 1998, sent shock waves through the international community.

``I don't think we can overstate the significance of it," said Jon Wolfsthal , a security specialist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington who has traveled to North Korea. ``This is the kind of event that changes the course of history.

``This is like when China conducted a test in 1949," he said. ``If the most backward, poverty-stricken, hermetic regime in the world can go nuclear, it is a sign that any country that wants to can eventually do the same."

Late last night, the White House and State Department were urgently seeking independent US confirmation of a nuclear test. But a White House official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because a public statement from the White House had not been released, said the Bush administration had been preparing for a test since North Korea said last week it planned to test a nuclear device. ``The North Koreans always do what they say they are going to do," he said.

The test appeared to be timed to coincide with the ninth anniversary of Kim Jong Il's appointment as head of the Korean Workers' Party.

After North Korea's announcement, Japan's top government spokesman said a nuclear test would be a serious threat and provocation to stability in the region. The Chinese government said Beijing ``resolutely opposes" a nuclear test and hopes Pyongyang will return to disarmament talks.

Pyongyang pulled out of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in 2003 and has refused to allow international inspections of its nuclear facilities since then.

The United States has refused to meet with North Korea outside of stalled negotiations with the Koreas, the United States, Japan, China, and Russia. Washington has said it would have bilateral talks with North Korea only in the context of those six-party talks.

The White House official said that the United States would seek ``prompt action" in the Security Council today, and that the administration had already discussed a menu of actions that could be taken against North Korea.

``We have been talking with our allies," he said. ``Secretary Rice will reach out to her counterparts and we will convene tomorrow at the UN to talk about the next step. We condemn this highly provocative act in the strongest terms. . . . We expect prompt action in the Security Council and remain committed to our efforts to see a nuclear-free Korean peninsula."

The official said that the North Korean test could not be compared to the nuclear explosions set off in 1998 by India and Pakistan.

``It is qualitatively different than India and Pakistan," he said. ``North Korea is a rogue regime."

Early this morning, White House spokesman Tony Snow released a statement saying the president was monitoring the situation. National security adviser Stephen Hadley informed Bush of the test shortly before 10 p.m.

Another US official who deals with nonproliferation issues, and who also spoke on the condition of anonymity, said, ``The [impact] is going to be significant. We have said we can't live with a nuclear North Korea, but guess what, there is a nuclear North Korea."

US officials fear that a tepid response to the North Korean test would make the United States and its allies look weak, including China, a major backer of North Korea that has been given the responsibility for shepherding negotiations with the reclusive regime.

Yet, US officials also fear that the United States will have few options to respond. President Clinton's planned response to a North Korean test included sending the Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier nearer to the shores of North Korea and sending more troops from Japan to South Korea, but the war in Iraq has so stretched United States military capacity that it will be difficult to quickly deploy more troops in the region.

Wolfsthal expressed doubt that the United States or its allies have very many options to scale back the North Korean weapons program.

``It is a setback for American prestige and influence in the region," he said. ``The adminsitration will argue this will further increase North Korean isolation, but the fact is North Korea has stood up to the Bush adminsitration policy and won. There are very few options now to reverse what has taken place."

Material from Associated Press was used in this report.

(Correction: Because of a reporting error, a quotation in a Page One story on Monday about North Korea's reported nuclear weapon test and the reaction from around the world contained an incorrect year for the first test by China. The first Chinese nuclear weapon test took place in 1964.)