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Anti-North Korea protesters chant slogans and hold signs denouncing North Korea's nuclear test, in Seoul - Source: Reuters -
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Following is reaction from world leaders and political
analysts to North Korea's nuclear test:
New Zealand
The government of NZ slammed North Korea's nuclear test as a provocative act and a step backwards
United States
President Barack Obama said North Korea's nuclear and missile tests
were a matter of grave concern to all nations and warranted action
by the international community.
"North Korea is directly and recklessly challenging the
international community. North Korea's behaviour increases tensions
and undermines stability in Northeast Asia," Obama said in a
statement.
Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on
CBS's The Early Show that the test show North Korea to be "a
country that I think continues to destabilize that region" and
could in the long term be a significant threat to the United
States.
United Nations
The UN Security Council will meet to discuss the nuclear test,
Russia's UN ambassador Vitaly Churkin was quoted as saying by
Itar-Tass news agency.
UN Secretary-General said, if confirmed, the test constituted a
clear violation of UN Security Council resolution 1718. "I am
deeply worried by a report of nuclear test by Democratic Republic
of Korea," Ban told Danish TV2.
China
China, the North's neighbour and long-time benefactor, said it was
resolutely opposed to the test, said the Xinhua news agency,
quoting the Foreign Ministry.
China however is unlikely to back strong sanctions, analysts said,
and its leaders will probably be more careful to balance their
anger against worries Pyongyang could make six-party nuclear
disarmament talks unsalvageable.
Russia
Russia's military said the nuclear test had a force of about 20
kilotons, Itar-Tass quoted a source in Russia's defence ministry as
saying. A kiloton is equivalent to 1,000 tonnes of TNT. Russia was
concerned by the reports of the test, Interfax news agency quoted
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying.
The Kremlin condemned the test, saying it caused "deep regret and
the most serious concern."
Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organisation
(CTBTO)
"The event's magnitude is slightly higher than in 2006, measuring
4.52 on the Richter scale, while in 2006 it was 4.1," the
Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organisation said in a
statement.
The CTBTO, the world's independent body for monitoring possible
breaches of the test ban, collected data from 39 seismic stations
around the world. It said the detonation had an estimated low
single digit kiloton range, contrasting with Russia's assessment of
20 kilotons.
"This is the wrong step in the wrong direction," CTBTO Executive
Secretary Tibor Toth told reporters.
Britain
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown condemned the nuclear and
missile tests as "erroneous, misguided and a danger to the world,"
saying the international community would only treat the North as a
partner if it behaved responsibly.
"This act will undermine prospects for peace on the Korean
peninsula and will do nothing for North Korea's security," Brown
said in a statement.
Iran
Iran has no missile or nuclear co-operation with North Korea,
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said.
Former US President Bush branded both countries as part of an axis of evil, but Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful power generation.
The West suspects its work has military aims.
"We don't have any co-operation (with North Korea) in this field.
We oppose the production, the amassing and proliferation of weapons
of mass destruction," Ahmadinejad told a news conference.
Military experts say Iran's Shahab-3 missile is based on the North
Korean Nodong missile. Tehran says Shahab-3 has a range of 2,000
km, which defence analysts say would put Israel and US bases in the
Gulf within range.
European Union
North Korea's nuclear test threatens regional peace and warrants a
firm response, European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana
said in a statement which also criticized the North's test launch
of short-range missiles.
"We consider it a provocation and we strongly condemn them."
Japan
The test was unacceptable and a violation of UN Security Council
resolutions, Prime Minister Taro Aso said.
He said Japan would seek a new resolution condemning the test at
the council meeting called for after the tests. Kyodo news agency
said Japan was also considering tightening its own sanctions on the
communist state.
A spokeswoman at Japan's Defence Ministry said that Japan was
preparing to fly aircraft as early as today to collect dust in the
air in order to measure radiation levels.
On the question of who knew what when: Mitoji Yabunaka, Japan's
vice foreign minister, told reporters Japan did not know in advance
about the test.
South Korea
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak called an emergency meeting of
cabinet ministers.
France
France condemned the test and said it would consult UN Security
Council partners "on the consequences to draw from this serious act
by North Korea, and in particular on strengthening sanctions," the
French Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Australia
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said the test was provocative. "On
the basis that North Korea has conducted a nuclear underground
explosion, they deserve and get nothing other than our absolute
condemnation, and that condemnation should be echoed around our
region and the globe," Smith told parliament.
NATO
"These irresponsible actions by Pyongyang pose a serious challenge
to peace, security and stability in the Asia-Pacific region and are
being universally condemned by the international community," NATO
said in a statement.
"We call upon Pyongyang to refrain from any other actions which
could contribute to raising tensions and to restore dialogue within
the Six-Party framework. The Alliance will continue to carefully
monitor developments with deep concern."
ANALYSTS
- Victor Cha, Center for Strategic & International
Studies' Korea Chair, formerly with the US National Security
Council
" ... The nuclear test is part of a broader effort to improve both
the North's long-range ballistic missile technology and its nuclear
weapons capability.
" ... These tests could reflect a leadership transition in the
North in which the stroke-afflicted leader Kim Jong-il is gradually
being succeeded by a coterie of hard-line loyalists and members of
the Kim family.
"Internal political fluidity in totalitarian systems like North
Korea usually gets externalized in belligerent, not conciliatory
behaviour."
- Jim Walsh, an expert in international security at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
"The surprise is the timing, that it happened more quickly, much
sooner than people expected.
"People reading about this today are going to be worried that there
is going to be a war, that this could lead to a military conflict.
The answer to that is no. The primary consequences are going to be
political and inside North Korea and in the region.
"One has to wonder if this is part of the internal political
transition that may be occurring inside North Korea."
- Xu Guangyu, Researcher, China Arms Control and
Disarmament Association
"This came unexpectedly quickly. But North Korea has been seeking
ways to pressure the United States and South Korea to open up
dialogue with them."
"North Korea's strategic objective hasn't changed. That objective
is to win the attention of the Obama administration, to push the
North Korea issue up the agenda."
- Dong Yong-Sueng, Senior Fellow, Samsung Economic
Research
"North Korea had already hinted at the possibility of a nuclear
test and this test underscored its strong will to hold a nuclear
deterrent."
- Scott Snyder, Asia Foundation, Washington
"Given internal events related to North Korea's preparations for succession, the statement very much suggests a desire to "deter" external interference in that process and to consolidate a deterrent capacity. This suggests a heightened feeling of vulnerability in Pyongyang."
- Kim Sung-Han, Korea University
professor
"The reported test appears to be aimed at securing ultimate
endorsement of its nuclear power status from the United States and
bringing Washington to the negotiation table."
