South Korea warned Wednesday that North Korea will face a strong and united response by the international community if it carries out a nuclear test.
"It is necessary to send a grave warning to North Korea so that it does not misjudge the current situation and conduct a nuclear test," Vice Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan told a press briefing in the face of a barrage of questions on the North's announcement a day earlier that it will conduct a nuclear test.
The reclusive communist nation, known for its unpredictable behavior, did not specify when it would take the action.
Yu was appearing before the press on behalf of Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon. Ban was called in by a parliamentary committee on unification and foreign affairs.
"North Korea's intentions appear to be complex, given the context of the statement issued on Tuesday," Yu said. He refused to elaborate, however, saying it is not appropriate to make public the results of the government's analysis.
Seoul will keep a close eye on North Korea's move in cooperation with related nations and continue efforts to peacefully resolve the issue, he stressed.
Yu said Ban had talks over the telephone with Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing earlier in the day, during which they agreed to persuade Pyongyang not to worsen the situation through a nuclear test. Ban also plans to discuss the situation by phone with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice later in the day, he added.
He made it clear that the communist regime will have to bear the brunt of a tough reaction by the international community if it carries out a nuclear test.
"I think it is not appropriate to talk about concrete measures since North Korea has not conducted a nuclear test yet," he said.
"But you can think about the U.N. Security Council's unanimous adoption of a resolution against its missile tests in July."
The official said a nuclear test can draw stronger actions including a reference to Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, which calls for the use of military force.
"The U.N.'s measure is a high-level political act," Yu said, when asked about the legal grounds for such coercive steps.
On Wednesday morning, South Korea's Foreign Ministry reaffirmed its position that it would never be acceptable for North Korea to possess nuclear weapons, and urged Pyongyang to immediately scrap the nuclear test plan.
"North Korea will have to bear the entire responsibility for all the consequences of a nuclear test," Foreign Ministry spokesman Choo Kyu-ho said. He pointed out such a test of nuclear weapons would violate the 1991 Joint Declaration for the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, in which the two Koreas agreed not to produce, test, or possess nuclear weapons.
Analysts and officials at home and abroad take North Korea's threat seriously, saying it seems not to be a simple bluff this time. It is the first time that the North made public its plan for a nuclear test.
North Korea is believed to have the capacity to produce several nuclear bombs. In August, South Korea's chief intelligence official Kim Seung-kyu said the North seems ready to conduct a nuclear test any time at the decision of the North's leader Kim Jong-il.
The U.S. said a nuclear test by the North would be a "very provocative act."
"A North Korean nuclear test would create a qualitatively different situation on the Korean Peninsula," U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said at a news conference in Egypt.
U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld refused to comment on the possibility of a military reaction, but denounced North Korea as an "active proliferator."
"Were they to test and were they to proliferate this technology, obviously we'd be living in a somewhat different world," he said.
He said diplomacy is still the best option to deal with the North.
Meanwhile, South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon hinted that he may push for a visit to North Korea if he becomes the secretary-general of the United Nations.
Ban is almost certain to succeed Kofi Annan, who is to retire at the end of this year, as he comfortably won the last straw poll earlier this week. The U.N. Security Council is likely to recommend him next week as the single candidate to be endorsed by the General Assembly.
"If I become the U.N. secretary-general, it could be helpful for dialogue with North Korea," he said in a meeting with a group of political editors of the local media.
He refused to clarify whether he would travel to the North, saying that it is a topic to be discussed if and when he takes office.
Seoul, Oct. 4 (Yonhap News)
S. Korea warns N. Korea not to test nuclear weapons |
