-
Related
US spy satellites have detected suspicious vehicle and people
activity near the site of North Korea's nuclear test that may
signal preparations for another test, US television networks
reported on Monday.
US officials said they could not be certain of what the North
Koreans were doing in the area, but the activity there could be
preparations for a second nuclear blast, NBC and ABC said.
In Seoul, a South Korean government official told Reuters on
Tuesday: "The government is aware of signs related to North Korea's
possible second nuclear test. We cannot exclude the possibility of
a second test."
But he added there was no firm information on a possible new
test.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, on the eve of a trip to the
region to try to stiffen the resolve behind UN sanctions on North
Korea, said she hoped Pyongyang would not conduct a second nuclear
test.
The UN Security Council unanimously adopted a sanctions resolution
against North Korea on Saturday in response to Pyongyang's October
9 nuclear test. North Korea's ambassador told the council that if
the United States increased pressure on his country, Pyongyang
"will continue to take physical countermeasures considering it as a
declaration of war."
Rice dismissed scepticism among some in Washington about China's
commitment to tough action against its communist neighbour.
"I am not concerned that the Chinese are going to turn their backs
on their obligations," she said. "I don't think they would have
voted for a resolution that they did not intend to carry through
on."
US Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns said China was already
taking action to check goods crossing into North Korea. "The
Chinese now are beginning to stop trucks at the 1,400 kilometre
border and inspect all of them," he said on CNN.
China has made clear it is worried that tough action could provoke
a collapse of the impoverished and highly militarized state, and
its UN ambassador again clarified the limits of its action on
Monday.
"Inspections yes, but inspections are different from interception
and interdiction." Ambassador Wang Guangya told reporters, an
apparent reference to stopping cargo at sea, which is one of the UN
sanctions agreed to on Saturday.
Wang said the resolution did not make it mandatory for all
nations to inspect cargo going to and from North Korea. He said
states could carry out such an operation as necessary "in
accordance with their national legal authorities."
Blast confirmed
The US government confirmed that the October 9 explosion, which
prompted worldwide condemnation and the harsh sanctions regime, was
a nuclear explosion as Pyongyang claimed.
"Analysis of air samples collected on October 11, 2006, detected
radioactive debris which confirms that North Korea conducted an
underground nuclear explosion," the director of national
intelligence said in a statement.
Rice leaves on Tuesday for Tokyo, Seoul, Beijing and Moscow to try
to cement the unified UN approach and edge North Korea back toward
six-party talks aimed at stopping its program to build a nuclear
weapon.
"My goal on this trip is, certainly, to reiterate that we're
prepared to return to the talks. But North Korea also needs to
understand ... that they will pay a price here" because of the
test, she said.
US officials also said North Korea must do more than return to the
talks to have the sanctions lifted. "A return to six-party talks
kind of doesn't do it," Ambassador to Japan Thomas Schieffer
said.
Pyongyang had to commit to implementing an agreement from September
19, 2005, in which it promised in principle to scrap its nuclear
arms programs in return for aid, security assurances and promises
of better diplomatic ties.
There were signs the new web of sanctions was starting to be put in
place. Australia said it was prohibiting all North Korean ships
from entering Australian ports and Japan announced it was extending
already harsh restrictions.
"Different dreams"
But Professor Nam Sung-wook of Korea University, an expert on North
Korea, said the practical effect was questionable. "They (countries
supporting sanctions) are in bed together but they're all dreaming
different dreams," he said.
Most of Pyongyang's trade crosses through China, which has perhaps
the most leverage on the reclusive state but fears a flood of
refugees if the Pyongyang government collapses.
Xu Guangyu of the government-sponsored China Arms Control and
Disarmament Association institute in Beijing, said inspecting cargo
for weapons-related material was "more a symbolic step than a real
sanction measure."
"China just doesn't engage in that sort of trade with North Korea,
so there's not much practical that needs to be done. It lets North
Korea know our feelings." Weapons comprise a tiny fraction of the
two countries' $US1.5 billion trade.
