North Korea delivered on its threat Monday, conducting a second nuclear test that angered governments around the globe.
The North had threatened to do so unless the U.N. Security Council apologized for imposing sanctions on it following a rocket test on April 5.
The secretive communist state also apparently test-fired a short-range missile on Monday, the White House said.
Japan called for an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council. One is expected Monday, said Vitaly Churkin, the Russian ambassador to the United Nations.
The White House — which less than three weeks ago announced a new diplomatic effort to restart stalled talks with North Korea about its nuclear program — said the test was in “blatant defiance” of the Security Council.
“North Korea is directly and recklessly challenging the international community,” the White House said. “The danger posed by North Korea’s threatening activities warrants action by the international community.”
Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told CNN’s “American Morning” that the test did not come as a surprise.
“As you know, they also recently … unsuccessfully launched potentially an intercontinental ballistic missile.”
Mullen said it would take a couple of days to verify Monday’s reported test, but he added, “there’s no indication that it wasn’t as they say.”
He said the reported test showed Pyongyang was becoming “increasingly belligerent.”
North Korea announced its underground nuclear test a little more than an hour after the U.S. Geological Survey reported a magnitude 4.7 seismic disturbance at the site of North Korea’s first nuclear test.
There was no immediate information on the yield of the weapon used in Monday’s test. The Russian Defense Ministry said the explosion was between 10 to 20 kilotons. The U.S. State Department said it was analyzing the data.
The North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency would say only that the latest test was safely conducted “on a new higher level in terms of its explosive power and technology of its control.”
U.S. intelligence estimated that the first North Korean test — in October 2006 — produced an explosion equal to less than 1,000 tons of TNT. The low yield was a fraction of the size of the bombs the United States dropped on Japan at the end of World War II.
Intelligence analysts had predicted North Korea would conduct a second rocket or nuclear test.
(Source: CNN)
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11 Responses
If the leaders of the USA and the world don’t derive an important lesson from this vis a vis Iran, then the sum of their IQs must assuredly be lower than that of even Veep Joe Biden.
Some of us recall the efforts of Madeleine Not-so-Bright to “negotiate” with North Korea and her willingness to trust its dictator. Now we see tyhe results.
Looks like Obama didn’t apologize enough to them. Now he should tell N. Korea and Iran that the US is to blame because since we are the leader in nuclear weapons, other countries have to show they are also nuclear capable.
I guess the child president we are blessed with has already called Dictator Kim Yong-Mentally-il to negotiate – or was it congradulate?
Robbisai, the strings of all of these puppets are being pulled from Above.
Nothing happens in this world, except for the sake of Klal Yisroel.
Leregel Kabbolas Hatorah, we should all be mefashfesh b’ma’aseinu.
A gutten Yom Tov.
After Obama apologies for causing Kim Jong-il to have no choice but to test nukes, Obama will offer Kim Jong-il a few billion to appease him and be on his good side.
4, as some of us including myself have posted om many occasions, we all know this however our histadlus is to complain about it.
Lichvod/Dear Klal Yiroel
Let us all cry out to Hashem for His rachamim. Let us remember Hashem runs the world, what we need to do is cry out to Him. We need to get closer to our Father. This world is just a hallway to the next. So much is happening around the world. A good thing to do- We should accept something on ourselves and ask Hashem that bzechus this may He send us the yeshua we are mispalel for, protect us, and bring us home.”Please Hashem we want to go home”.
The President has already made a statement about it condemning North Korea. I just don’t think North Korea takes him seriously. Neither do I for that matter which only makes it the more scary.
Mr. President, would it be so terrible if you consulted with Dick Cheney about foreign affairs and not your trusty advisory team such as your daughters, your wife, William Ayers, Rashid Khalidi, Hillary Clinton, et. al.?
What will probably happen is that Mr. Obama will continue to try to open lines to talk to them until they send a nuke into northern Alaska, wiping out half of the polar-bear population. Then the greenies will get all upset at North Korea’s attempted polar bear genocide and put pressure on the President to halt all nuclear buildup for fear of causing greater havoc on the world’s ecosystem, ending the President’s attempted open-line of talk.
Who knows, maybe then they’ll agree to start drilling in Alaska. 🙂
Why is everyone bashing Obama here? Is this somehow his fault?
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama assailed North Korea Monday for new missile tests, saying the world must “stand up to” Pyongyang and demand that it honor a promise to abandon its nuclear ambitions.
Appearing on the White House steps, Obama said that its latest nuclear underground test and subsequent test firings of short-range ground to air missiles “pose a grave threat to the peace and security of the world and I strongly condemn their reckless action.”
It was his second statement within hours of the tests, the latest in a number of nuclear actions that Obama said “endanger the people of Northeast Asia.” He called it “a blatant violation of international law” and said that it contradicted North Korea’s “own prior commitments.” Obama had released a written statement chastising the North Koreans in the early morning hours of Monday.
In his statement in the White House Rose Garden, he noted that the latest tests had drawn scorn around the world. Pyongyang’s actions “have flown in the face of U.N. resolutions” and had deepened its isolation, he said, “inviting stronger international pressure.”
“North Korea will not find security and respect through threats and illegal weapons,” the president said. “We will work with our friends and allies to stand up to this behavior. The United States will never waver from our determination to protect our people and the peace and security of the world.”
-AP