The UN Security Council was in emergency session tonight after North Korea carried out a powerful underground nuclear test condemned by President Obama as a threat to world peace.
The atomic bomb — up to 20 times more powerful than the previous one detonated by North Korea in 2006 — was comparable with the device that flattened Hiroshima. It put the world on notice that Pyongyang is accelerating quickly towards a military nuclear capability. The regime also test-fired three short-range missiles, prompting South Korea to put its army on alert.
The provocative test sparked global condemnation, even from China, the reclusive communist state’s only ally. Yet it was clear that the West was powerless to halt the nuclear programme.
Mr Obama said that the test was a great threat to the peace and security of the world and a blatant violation of international law. Gordon Brown called it erroneous, misguided and a danger to the world. Ban Ki Moon, the UN Secretary General and a South Korean, said that he was deeply disturbed by the detonation, which was detected by US scientists as a magnitude 4.7 earthquake.
Yet no one specified what punitive action they wanted taken. A military strike is not an option, given the North’s huge conventional army and close proximity to Japan and South Korea. Only France called for a new set of sanctions against Pyongyang.
The 15-member Security Council was expected to issue a joint statement strongly condemning the test, but analysts believe that China is unlikely to back fresh sanctions. Even Russia spoke only of "concern" over the detonation rather than outrage.
The US has been grappling with the threat of North Korea’s nuclear programme since the early 1990s, and each approach has failed. Pyongyang is the world’s most isolated regime and previous measures have done nothing to stop its pursuit of nuclear weapons.
The test is viewed as the ailing Kim Jong Il’s latest attempt to put pressure Washington for one-on-one talks. North Korea pulled out of six-party talks in April after the UN condemned its launch of a long-range missile.
North Korea is believed to have enough weaponised plutonium for at least six atomic bombs. There is growing concern in Washington that it is hell-bent on building a militarised device and has advanced so far that it is no longer interested in negotiating away its nuclear technology.