North Korea announced Tuesday that it would conduct a nuclear weapons test, citing American military pressure and economic sanctions as its justification. The declaration alarmed governments worldwide, arriving just three months after Pyongyang had fired long-range missiles in a separate provocation.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack, accompanying Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on a Middle East trip, said a test would pose "an unacceptable threat to peace and stability." Washington warned the move would deepen the regime's isolation and undermine confidence in Pyongyang's commitment to diplomacy.
The six-party process, grouping the United States, both Koreas, China, Japan, and Russia, has been on hold since November 2005. The framework emerged after North Korea withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 2003, and a September 2005 joint statement had offered Pyongyang concrete benefits in exchange for renouncing its nuclear program.
North Korea conditioned any return to talks on the lifting of American sanctions. Washington said it had made repeated attempts to draw Pyongyang back, including a proposed high-level ASEAN meeting the previous July.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was attending a security conference in Nicaragua when the announcement came. A senior official in his delegation said the administration had anticipated the move and was already convening meetings to formulate a response. Japan issued swift condemnation.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in October 2006, in its own words.