China calls for calm over nuke issue
(Agencies Via Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-10-04 08:23 Pyongyang has said it has nuclear weapons, but
it has not conducted any test known to outsiders to prove its claim. South
Korea's spy agency has said the North could test a nuclear bomb at any
time.
North Korea announced Tuesday that (for)
scientific research, the country would in the future conduct a nuclear test
under conditions where safety is firmly guaranteed.The statement from Pyongyang gave no precise date when a
test might occur.
The country said it would implement its
international commitment on nuclear non-proliferation "as a responsible nuclear
weapons state" although in January 2003 it quit the Non-proliferation Treaty.
North Korea "will never use nuclear weapons first, but strictly
prohibit any threat of nuclear weapons and nuclear transfer," it said in a
statement.
It also affirmed that it would strive to "realize the denuclearization of the
(Korean) peninsula and give impetus to worldwide nuclear disarmament and the
ultimate elimination of nuclear weapons."
US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton departs after speaking
about the announcement by North Korea it would test a nuclear weapon,
before a UN Security Council meeting, at the United Nations in New York
October 3, 2006. [Reuters] | The
statement accused the United States of adopting a hostile policy, saying that
was why it must conduct a nuclear test, as a way of bolstering its war
deterrence.
The US' extreme threat of a nuclear war and sanctions and pressure compel the
country to conduct a nuclear test, added the statement.
North Korea is believed by US officials to have possessed one or two
nuclear weapons for years, and that it has the capability to produce more.
The US and its allies have been trying
to persuade the North back to stalled international efforts to ask
Pyongyang to scrap its nuclear weapons program.
The North has pushed for direct talks with the
United States, something Washington says it will not do outside the framework of
the stalled six-nation talks. The North has refused to return to the disarmament
talks because of US financial restrictions imposed for alleged illegal activity,
including money laundering and counterfeiting.
Rumsfeld, in Managua, Nicaragua, for meetings
with Central and South American foreign ministers, declined to say whether
Pyongyang's announcement had triggered any changes in the US alert status.
US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack
said a North Korean nuclear test would be an "unacceptable threat to peace and
stability" and further isolate North Korea from the rest of the world.
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