North Korea said it has carried out a successful “nuclear warhead explosion” test to counter what it called USA hostility, North Korean state TV reported, angering neighbours and the United States.
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Khan in 2011 made public documents in support of his claim that North Korea had bribed senior officials of the Pakistani army and got them to allow him to share nuclear technology and certain equipment with the pariah nation.
“But the closer Kim Jong Un gets to having a direct-strike capability, the greater the pressure will be, presenting a new [US] administration with only two options – acquiescence to North Korea as a nuclear state, and use of military force in order to deprive North Korea of that capability”.
The test provoked strong criticism from the worldwide community, including China, who firmly opposed it and summoned the North Korean ambassador in Beijing. It has conducted a series of missile tests this year, including a submarine-launched missile.
Kim could not be more mistaken.
The South Korean minister emphasized that Friday’s nuclear test by Pyongyang is a crucial violation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 2270, calling the nuclear fiasco “a grave provocation”.
“In line with this commitment and the gravity of this violation, the members of the Security Council will begin to work immediately on appropriate measures” in a new United Nations resolution, the statement said. The council tends to reserve its harshest responses for nuclear tests. The tougher resolution reflects growing worldwide concern over Pyongyang’s growing nuclear capabilities and resolve to confront the regime’s defiance. Its continued testing despite sanctions presents a severe challenge to Obama in the final months of his presidency and could become a factor in the US presidential election in November.
President Barack Obama condemned the test and said the United States would never accept the country as a nuclear power.
“We are opposed to testing and we believe that it is more urgent than ever to work together to ensure denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula”, Liu said.
“China shares important responsibility for this development and has an important responsibility to reverse it”, he said.
China’s reluctance to strongly pressure its ally provides Pyongyang a feeling of impunity that encourages it toward further belligerence.
North Koreans gathered around public screens to watch the official announcement of the test, which came on the 68th anniversary of the country’s founding.
After its fourth test in March, sanctions were toughened to include North Korea’s mineral trade and stricter banking restrictions. But it is obviously necessary to explore ways to get Pyongyang to freeze its nuclear and missile programs.
“The cumulative knowledge of the five nuclear test explosions and the dozens of ballistic missile tests, especially in the last 12 months, are giving their technical people greater confidence that they can deploy warheads on their ballistic missiles”.
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This first appeared in The Daily Signal here.
