North Korea's nuke test leads to global protest

North Korea's claimed first–ever nuclear bomb test on October 9 has met with worldwide protest led by the United States and the isolated communist impoverished nation may face crippling non–military sanctions that may further affect its ailing economy.

However, instead of being remorseful, North Korea's deputy leader has remained defiant, threatening more nuclear tests if the United States continued its "hostile attitude" against the country amid mounting tensions in North–East Asia.

However, Kim Yong Nam, second to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, also suggested that Pyongyang was ready to return to the stalled six–party talks if sanctions against his country were lifted, Japan's Kyodo News agency reported from Pyongyang.

"The issue of future nuclear tests is linked to US policy toward our country," Kim was quoted as saying when asked whether Pyongyang will conduct more nuclear tests.

"If the United States continues to take a hostile attitude and apply pressure on us in various forms, we will have no choice but to take physical steps to deal with that," he said, adding, "If full–scale sanctions take place, we will regard it as a declaration of war."

Tensions have heated up throughout the Korean peninsula with South Korea's military reportedly readying for nuclear conflict and North Korea warning that an international push for tighter sanctions would be an act of war.

Meanwhile, US President George Bush has ruled out holding bilateral talks with either North Korea or Iran, despite the escalating crises with both nations over their nuclear programmes.

But he has also insisted his administration remained committed to using diplomacy and not military action to resolve both issues.

"I firmly believe that, with North Korea and with Iran, that it is best to deal with these regimes with more than one voice," Bush said during a White House press conference, arguing in favor of multilateral negotiations with the two governments.

"But the United States' message to North Korea and Iran and the people in both countries is that we want to solve issues peacefully," Bush said.

Earlier, at the United Nations, where the Bush administration is pursuing sanctions against the North Korean regime, Secretary–General Kofi Annan urged Bush to consider bilateral negotiations.

However, Bush struck a defensive tone in explaining his opposition to direct negotiations. Echoing comments by other Republicans in recent days, he cited the one–on–one approach to North Korea taken by former President Clinton resulting in a 1994 agreement that collapsed in 2002, two years after Bush took office.

"Bilateral relations didn't work," Bush said, although adding, "I appreciate the efforts of previous administrations."

The 1994 agreement froze North Korea's plutonium activities and mothballed its nuclear plants, putting its nuclear program under international inspectors. In exchange, Washington agreed to provide fuel oil and build two light–water breeder reactors. In 2002, after Bush's inclusion of North Korea in his "axis of evil," North Korea admitted it was still working to develop nuclear weapons.

Bush said he learned from that experience that it takes several countries to influence the reclusive and unpredictable government in Pyongyang. Consequently, he proposed a system of six–nation talks involving South Korea, Japan, China and Russia, in addition to the United States and North Korea, which began in 2003.

Meanwhile, China said it would support "prudent" sanctions focused mainly on banning the transfer of nuclear and missile technology, but still opposed a provision that could open the door to military action to enforce the sanctions.

China would also support a travel ban for senior North Korean officials, diplomats said. Russian negotiators said they had no instructions from Moscow on the latest revision, but Russia was expected to vote with China.

The U.S.–backed resolution includes a financial freeze similar to current American economic sanctions to shut down alleged counterfeiting, money laundering and drug trafficking that has reportedly helped fund North Korea's weapons programs.

The resolution, cosponsored by Japan, also includes specific provisions to ensure that civilians and aid groups would not be directly affected by the punitive measures.

Meanwhile, the Japanese government declared that it would not wait for the Security Council to act against Pyongyang, announcing its six–month ban on North Korean nationals and exports, which would cut off some of North Korea's access to cash and bartered goods.

The move was mostly symbolic. Japan's trade with North Korea is minuscule compared with the economic ties Pyongyang has with China and South Korea, the key lifelines that many observers argue are all that sustain dictator Kim Jong Il's regime.

Tokyo had already shut down the flow of money from North Korean nationals living in Japan to friends and relatives back home.

Nations worldwide have reacted with outrage at the isolated Stalinist nation, North Korea's declaration that the detonation of its nuclear weapon on Monday was successful, despite doubts raised by the US and a few others on whether it was in fact a nuclear device.

According to scientists, if the weapon was indeed nuclear, then the test was a failure. But this is unlikely to derail North Korea's nuclear programme and could even help Pyongyang's bomb makers, they warn.

Two main sources of scientific evidence are needed to confirm that a blast is nuclear. One is the shockwave sent back by ground detectors, and the other is fallout — radioactive particles or gases — that often escape from an underground test site, even if the tunnel or shaft is sealed. But the blast was so tiny the seismic wave was almost indistinguishable from routine subterranean background "noise," some experts said, adding that it means that it will take a long time, using supercomputers, to root out any telltale spikes that confirm the blast was nuclear, and not a stockpile of TNT.

"There is a series of differentiations to be done" to sift out the blast from background noise, said Xavier Clement, spokesman of France's Atomic Energy Commission.

"It is possible that this cannot be done, given the weakness of the signals compared to the background noise," he said.

In the absence, so far, of any known radiological evidence, scientists also note the low size of North Korea's explosion.

Only Russia has described the blast as a full–fledged nuclear event, equivalent to five to 15 kilotons of TNT, while the Norwegian institute of seismology Norsar described it as a "medium–sized bomb" at between one and 10 kilotons.

But other national monitors put it at less than one kiloton, with one figure of as little as 200 tons.

Such low yields are feasible with a nuclear warhead, but they are traditionally reserved for established members of the nuclear club.

"It seems to me technically unlikely and politically unlikely that North Korea would have tried to do anything other in its first test than in the 10–20 kiloton range," James Acton of Vertic, an independent British watchdog, said.

"If it was a nuclear test and the yield was less than a kiloton, it seems to me the evidence is that this test was a fizzle, it was a partially unsuccessful test," he said.

Earlier, French Defence Minister Michele Alliot–Marie had remarked that "whatever the case, if indeed it was a nuclear explosion, then it was a failed test."