,
US President George W. Bush pushed for new international sanctions on North Korea over its nuclear test and warned Pyongyang against giving atomic know-how to nations like Syria or Iran.
The US president declined to confirm the Stalinist regime's boast overnight that it had successfully fired a nuclear device underground but branded the announcement itself “a threat to international peace and security.”
In a brief public statement, Bush said he had discussed the way forward with the leaders of China, South Korea, Russia and Japan — Washington's partners in six-party talks with North Korea — and found broad agreement.
“We reaffirmed our commitment to a nuclear-free Korean peninsula. And all of us agreed that the proclaimed actions taken by North Korea are unacceptable and deserve an immediate response by the United Nations Security Council,” he said.
Bush said that he remained “committed to diplomacy” but also stressed that the United States “will continue to protect ourselves and our interests” and will follow through on pledges to protect allies in the region.
He also warned Pyongyang that Washington would view any transfer of nuclear weapons or material by North Korea to other countries or non-state entities — like terrorist groups — as “a grave threat” to US security.
“We would hold North Korea fully accountable of the consequences of such action,” he said, renewing charges that the Stalinist regime has transferred missile technology to Syria and Iran.
US officials pushed the Security Council to support possible sanctions including international inspection of all cargo to and from North Korea, new financial curbs targeting Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs, and restrictions on exports of goods with military uses and sales of luxury items.
“Once again North Korea has defied the will of the international community, and the international community will respond,” the US president told reporters at the White House.
But even as Washington pushed for sanctions, White House spokesman Tony Snow warned that it might take “a couple of days” — or as little as a few hours — to be sure whether or not North Korea actually tested a nuclear device.
He also suggested that the US approach would not change even if the claim were debunked, telling reporters: “I'm not aware that there is a specific menu for real test/fake test.”
North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said overnight that Pyongyang had conducted its first nuclear weapon test Monday, calling it a “historic event.”
The agency said the test was carried out safely and successfully.
“We're working to confirm North Korea's claim. Such a claim itself constitutes a threat to international peace and security. The United States condemns this provocative act,” said Bush.
Snow rejected calls for direct talks between the United States and North Korea, saying Washington would stick with six-party negotiations that also group North and South Korea, China, Japan and Russia.
But North Korea has boycotted those negotiations since November 2005.
As opposition Democrats hammered the Bush administration's North Korea policy, seeking an edge in November 7 legislative elections, senior Bush foreign policy aides sought to line up global support.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke with her counterparts from China, Russia, Japan and South Korea, as well as the foreign ministers of Australia and New Zealand — key partners in the Proliferation Security Initiative launched by Washington after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
“Threats will not lead to a brighter future for the North Korean people, nor weaken the resolve of the United States and our allies to achieve the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” said Bush.
Pyongyang announced October 3 that it would test nuclear weapons in response to what it described as US military threats and sanctions, jangling nerves worldwide just three months after North Korea test-fired long-range missiles.
As part of an agreement reached in the six-party talks on September 19, 2005, the United States had made security guarantees to North Korea in exchange for Pyongyang agreeing to renounce its nuclear weapons program.
But Pyongyang said the removal of US sanctions imposed for alleged money laundering and counterfeiting of US currency was the condition for its return to the negotiating table.
