North Korea's detonation of a nuclear device Monday appears not to have been a significant technical advance over its first underground test more than 2 ½ years ago. But it has triggered a swifter, stronger and more uniform wave of international condemnation.
The Washington Post
PREV
POOL / GETTY IMAGES
President Obama places a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Monday during a Memorial Day tribute at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va. He then turned his attention to the latest North Korea crisis, condemning the country's second test of a nuclear device.
How powerful?
October 2006: less than 1 kilotonMonday: 2 to 4 kilotons
World War II: The bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki yielded an estimated 15 and 22 kilotons, respectively.
Source: U.S. government
TOKYO — North Korea's detonation of a nuclear device Monday appears not to have been a significant technical advance over its first underground test more than 2 ½ years ago. But it has triggered a swifter, stronger and more uniform wave of international condemnation, most notably from the isolated nation's historical allies, China and Russia.
The U.N. Security Council moved quickly in an emergency meeting Monday to condemn the test, saying it constituted a clear violation of a 2006 U.N. resolution barring the communist state from exploding a nuclear weapon.
The council's speedy response contrasted with protracted discussions that followed North Korea's April 5 launch of a long-range missile and reflected what analysts called deep displeasure by Russia and China.
Earlier, the Chinese government, North Korea's main economic patron, said it was "resolutely opposed" to the nuclear test and told its leaders to avoid actions that heighten tensions and return to multination talks focused on dismantling its nuclear program. China's response Monday was significantly more pointed than it was to North Korea's first nuclear test, in October 2006.
President Obama, whose staff was informed of Monday's test about an hour before it took place and who had been briefed several times in the past week about the possibility, accused North Korea of "blatant violation of international law."
"By acting in blatant defiance of the United Nations Security Council, North Korea is directly and recklessly challenging the international community," Obama said. "North Korea's behavior increases tensions and undermines stability in northeast Asia. Such provocations will only serve to deepen North Korea's isolation."
The test, described as "successful" by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency, escalates a pattern of provocation that this spring has included launching the long-range missile, detaining two U.S. journalists, kicking out U.N. nuclear inspectors, restarting a plutonium factory and halting six-nation negotiations on its nuclear program.
North Korea said its second nuclear test was more powerful and better controlled than its 2006 test, which many experts characterized as a semifailure.
But several U.S. experts on nuclear weapons said Monday's test demonstrated that the North Koreans have not mastered the technology of creating a reliable nuclear bomb.
"The simplest hypothesis is that they're trying to build a weaponizable device, and they're still not that good at it," said Jeffrey Lewis, director of the nonprofit Nuclear Strategy and Nonproliferation Initiative at the New America Foundation.
Monday's test was conducted about 50 miles northwest of the city of Kilju, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Alexander Drobyshevsky said, speaking on state-run Rossiya television. Kilju is where North Korea conducted its first nuclear test in October 2006.
North Korea boasted that Monday's test was conducted "on a new higher level in terms of its explosive power and technology of its control."
The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization, however, said from its Vienna headquarters that the underground blast measured 4.52 on the Richter scale, only "slightly" higher than the 4.1 recorded in 2006.
U.S. and French officials have said the 2006 test measured less than a kiloton; 1 kiloton is equal to the force produced by 1,000 tons of TNT.
The explosive yield from Monday's test was in the range of 2 to 4 kilotons, estimated Siegfried Hecker, a periodic visitor to North Korea's nuclear complex in Yongbyon. He is a former director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory and current co-director of Stanford University's Center for International Security and Cooperation.
"You would expect 10 to 20 times that yield," said Theodore Postol, a professor of science, technology and national-security policy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "These guys have not solved the problem."
Still, the test represented progress, according to a former intelligence official who has long studied North Korea. "Without question, it's a step forward," said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
In South Korea, where tensions with the North have increased substantially in recent months, the government said the nuclear test was "a serious threat" to peace on the Korean Peninsula and "a serious challenge to the international regime on nuclear nonproliferation."
Obama told South Korean President Lee Myung-bak that the United States will protect his country from any North Korean aggression, Lee's spokesman Lee Dong-kwan said after the two leaders spoke by telephone.
South Korea, which previously stayed out of the U.S.-led Proliferation Security Initiative to pursue reconciliation efforts with North Korea, set aside its reservations and said it would join the pact immediately. The program involves stopping and searching ships suspected of carrying nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, materials to make them, or missiles to deliver them.
North Korea for years has been the target of international sanctions intended to limit the country's access to bomb- and missile-making technology. But while the sanctions have undermined the North's economy, a senior administration official said, they have had little direct effect on its "entirely indigenous" nuclear program.
The government mines its uranium, builds laboratories using its technical expertise and generates its plutonium, making it difficult to stop the process from the outside, the official said.
After North Korea exploded a small nuclear device in October 2006, the nation agreed to begin shutting down its main nuclear reactor and began to disable it. It did so in return for food, fuel and diplomatic concessions, including a move by the Bush administration last year to remove North Korea from a U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism. But the negotiations did nothing to stop North Korea from trying to improve the quality of its nuclear devices.
Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso said late Monday that his country "absolutely cannot tolerate" the nuclear test because North Korea also is beefing up its ballistic-missile capability, which "could be a means of transportation for weapons of mass destruction."
Japan dispatched three military aircraft late Monday from three bases to monitor the possible presence of radioactive substances, the Defense Ministry said.
The government of Kim Jong Il has been fuming over Security Council condemnation of its long-range missile launch on April 5. North Korea had said repeatedly that it might test another nuclear device. Officials said Monday that the test was intended to "bolster up its nuclear deterrent for self-defense in every way."
Analysts said the test also may be related to succession issues inside North Korea.
Kim reportedly suffered a stroke last summer, and recent photos show he is much thinner and more frail than before. His youngest son, Kim Jong Un, is widely speculated to be the most likely successor.
"North Korea's leader is ailing, and he may be impatient," said Koh Yu-whan, a professor of North Korean studies at Dongguk University in Seoul. "Realizing that there is change in store for him, Kim seems to have opted for a strong message that the United States cannot ignore."
Information from McClatchy Newspapers and The Associated Press is included in this report.
The U.N. Security Council moved quickly in an emergency meeting Monday to condemn the test, saying it constituted a clear violation of a 2006 U.N. resolution barring the communist state from exploding a nuclear weapon.
The council's speedy response contrasted with protracted discussions that followed North Korea's April 5 launch of a long-range missile and reflected what analysts called deep displeasure by Russia and China.
Earlier, the Chinese government, North Korea's main economic patron, said it was "resolutely opposed" to the nuclear test and told its leaders to avoid actions that heighten tensions and return to multination talks focused on dismantling its nuclear program. China's response Monday was significantly more pointed than it was to North Korea's first nuclear test, in October 2006.
President Obama, whose staff was informed of Monday's test about an hour before it took place and who had been briefed several times in the past week about the possibility, accused North Korea of "blatant violation of international law."
"By acting in blatant defiance of the United Nations Security Council, North Korea is directly and recklessly challenging the international community," Obama said. "North Korea's behavior increases tensions and undermines stability in northeast Asia. Such provocations will only serve to deepen North Korea's isolation."
The test, described as "successful" by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency, escalates a pattern of provocation that this spring has included launching the long-range missile, detaining two U.S. journalists, kicking out U.N. nuclear inspectors, restarting a plutonium factory and halting six-nation negotiations on its nuclear program.
North Korea said its second nuclear test was more powerful and better controlled than its 2006 test, which many experts characterized as a semifailure.
But several U.S. experts on nuclear weapons said Monday's test demonstrated that the North Koreans have not mastered the technology of creating a reliable nuclear bomb.
"The simplest hypothesis is that they're trying to build a weaponizable device, and they're still not that good at it," said Jeffrey Lewis, director of the nonprofit Nuclear Strategy and Nonproliferation Initiative at the New America Foundation.
Monday's test was conducted about 50 miles northwest of the city of Kilju, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Alexander Drobyshevsky said, speaking on state-run Rossiya television. Kilju is where North Korea conducted its first nuclear test in October 2006.
North Korea boasted that Monday's test was conducted "on a new higher level in terms of its explosive power and technology of its control."
The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization, however, said from its Vienna headquarters that the underground blast measured 4.52 on the Richter scale, only "slightly" higher than the 4.1 recorded in 2006.
U.S. and French officials have said the 2006 test measured less than a kiloton; 1 kiloton is equal to the force produced by 1,000 tons of TNT.
The explosive yield from Monday's test was in the range of 2 to 4 kilotons, estimated Siegfried Hecker, a periodic visitor to North Korea's nuclear complex in Yongbyon. He is a former director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory and current co-director of Stanford University's Center for International Security and Cooperation.
"You would expect 10 to 20 times that yield," said Theodore Postol, a professor of science, technology and national-security policy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "These guys have not solved the problem."
Still, the test represented progress, according to a former intelligence official who has long studied North Korea. "Without question, it's a step forward," said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
In South Korea, where tensions with the North have increased substantially in recent months, the government said the nuclear test was "a serious threat" to peace on the Korean Peninsula and "a serious challenge to the international regime on nuclear nonproliferation."
Obama told South Korean President Lee Myung-bak that the United States will protect his country from any North Korean aggression, Lee's spokesman Lee Dong-kwan said after the two leaders spoke by telephone.
South Korea, which previously stayed out of the U.S.-led Proliferation Security Initiative to pursue reconciliation efforts with North Korea, set aside its reservations and said it would join the pact immediately. The program involves stopping and searching ships suspected of carrying nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, materials to make them, or missiles to deliver them.
North Korea for years has been the target of international sanctions intended to limit the country's access to bomb- and missile-making technology. But while the sanctions have undermined the North's economy, a senior administration official said, they have had little direct effect on its "entirely indigenous" nuclear program.
The government mines its uranium, builds laboratories using its technical expertise and generates its plutonium, making it difficult to stop the process from the outside, the official said.
After North Korea exploded a small nuclear device in October 2006, the nation agreed to begin shutting down its main nuclear reactor and began to disable it. It did so in return for food, fuel and diplomatic concessions, including a move by the Bush administration last year to remove North Korea from a U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism. But the negotiations did nothing to stop North Korea from trying to improve the quality of its nuclear devices.
Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso said late Monday that his country "absolutely cannot tolerate" the nuclear test because North Korea also is beefing up its ballistic-missile capability, which "could be a means of transportation for weapons of mass destruction."
Japan dispatched three military aircraft late Monday from three bases to monitor the possible presence of radioactive substances, the Defense Ministry said.
The government of Kim Jong Il has been fuming over Security Council condemnation of its long-range missile launch on April 5. North Korea had said repeatedly that it might test another nuclear device. Officials said Monday that the test was intended to "bolster up its nuclear deterrent for self-defense in every way."
Analysts said the test also may be related to succession issues inside North Korea.
Kim reportedly suffered a stroke last summer, and recent photos show he is much thinner and more frail than before. His youngest son, Kim Jong Un, is widely speculated to be the most likely successor.
"North Korea's leader is ailing, and he may be impatient," said Koh Yu-whan, a professor of North Korean studies at Dongguk University in Seoul. "Realizing that there is change in store for him, Kim seems to have opted for a strong message that the United States cannot ignore."
Information from McClatchy Newspapers and The Associated Press is included in this report.
Copyright © 2009 The Seattle Times Company
No comments:
Post a Comment