U.N. urges North Korea to cancel nuclear test

UNITED NATIONS — The Security Council unanimously urged North Korea on Friday to scrap plans for a nuclear test and return to six-party talks or face unspecified consequences.

Japan's newly elected Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Friday that the tests could come as early as this weekend. U.S. spy satellites have detected sustained activity at a suspected underground test site in the north. Abe will travel to Beijing on Sunday and Seoul, South Korea, on Monday to press for support in corralling North Korea's nuclear ambitions.

A Chinese source briefed by the North Korean government said Friday that North Korea is "more or less ready" to conduct a nuclear test deep inside an abandoned coal mine but might hold off if it can win concessions from the United States.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said a device would be detonated about 6,500 feet inside a mine near the border with China in the north of the country.

North Korea has timed its military exercises to coincide with significant dates: it launched missiles July 4, despite international warnings. Monday is North Korea Workers' Party Day.

North Korea's foreign ministry had announced Tuesday that it was preparing for a nuclear test to ensure its security in the face of what North Korean officials described as threats from the United States.

The United States levied financial sanctions against North Korea last year and has encouraged banks around the world to cut off business dealings because of Pyongyang's alleged money-laundering and counterfeiting. The North Koreans want the United States to lift the sanctions and engage in direct talks, and the threat to test a nuclear device is seen by diplomats and experts as a way to heighten pressure.

The Security Council statement said that a test would not bring Pyongyang closer to its goals. Rather it would "bring universal condemnation by the international community," the statement said. "The Security Council urges the DPRK not to undertake such a test and to refrain from any action that might aggravate tension," the statement added, using the acronym for the country's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Chief U.S. delegate John Bolton said that the council takes the threat seriously, and the United States is prepared to push for international economic sanctions.

"If they do test it, it will be a very different world the day after," he said before the meeting. "There would be another nuclear power. This would be proof positive of North Korea having a weapon."