North Korea announces nuclear-test plans

TOKYO — World leaders lashed out at North Korea's vow Tuesday to test a nuclear bomb some time "in the future" but offered no clear plan to deal with aggravated tensions over the dictatorship's nuclear weapons ambitions.

U.S. intelligence officials said they had been monitoring recent movement of people and vehicles around at least one suspected test site. But because North Korea has never conducted a nuclear test, it is difficult for intelligence agencies to determine how close the regime is to setting off a bomb.

The North Koreans did not elaborate on when a test would occur or if it would be conducted below ground, which experts say is most likely, or in the atmosphere.

Though North Korea has previously said it possesses nuclear bombs — U.S. intelligence officials have estimated it could have as many as 11 — a test detonation would dramatically change the region's power dynamics. Analysts have said the United States and area neighbors including China, Japan and South Korea would be forced to deal far more harshly with the North Koreans.

North Korea's Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that a test of its nuclear capability is a necessary response to Washington's financial squeeze on the country, which it described as a "de facto declaration of war." In recent months, Washington has accused Kim Jong Il's regime of using foreign banks to launder drug money and to counterfeit U.S. currency, and recently has increased pressure on banks around the world not to handle transactions with Pyongyang's military and political elite.

"The U.S. extreme threat of nuclear war and sanctions and pressure compel (North Korea) to conduct a nuclear test, an essential process for bolstering (our) nuclear deterrent, as a corresponding measure for defense," the North Korean statement said.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, traveling in Egypt, said a North Korean test would be "a very provocative act."

In Japan, a country within North Korean missile range and where hostility to Kim's regime is a hallmark of its new, hard line government, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe warned that "Japan and the world would definitely not tolerate a nuclear test."

And the South Korean government, which has been reluctant to take a hard line against its volatile northern neighbor, expressed "great concern" at the announcement and urged Pyongyang to cancel plans for a test.

But there was no immediate consensus on what measures should be employed in an effort to defuse the latest North Korean threat.

China, North Korea's neighbor and key economic partner urged calm and restraint.

In New York, the U.N. Security Council declined to issue a formal admonition, noting it passed a tough resolution last July.

The sharpest response — from Japan — came as Abe's office said he would hold summits with China on Oct. 8 and South Korea on Oct. 9. Roh's office said the South Korean president would head to Beijing to speak with Chinese President Hu Jintao on Oct. 13.

Before his election last week, Abe suggested that Tokyo should study whether Japan's constitution would allow a pre-emptive strike on North Korean missile bases.

U.S. nuclear analysts have worried for years that a North Korean nuclear test might lead Japan to break with decades of nonproliferation commitments. Japan's nuclear industry is highly advanced, giving the country the ability to make nuclear weapons within months if it chose to do so.

Several analysts and diplomats said a test would in effect mean Kim Jong Il had played his last card in the standoff over the country's nuclear program.

Analysts said the threat might also reflect attempts by Kim to appease the North Korean military, which is still smarting from a failed test of its new inter-continental Taepodong-2 missile in July.

"North Korea's final goal is survival, and a test is their final option," said Ahn Yinhay, professor of international relations at Korea University in Seoul.