North Korea nuclear test

North Korea launches two short-range missiles, diplomats condemn nuclear test

Article published on the 2009-05-26 Latest update 2009-05-26 13:50 TU

Anti-North Korea protesters at a rally in front of US embassy in Seoul on 26 May
(Photo: Reuters)

North Korea launched two short-range missiles on Tuesday, one ground-to-air and one ground-to-ship missile off its east coast near the city of Hamhung, according to a South Korean news agency.

Asian and European foreign ministers condemned North Korea’s nuclear test on Tuesday, during a two-day Asia-Europe foreign ministers’ meeting in Hanoi, Vietnam.

“Ministers strongly urge the DPRK not to conduct any further nuclear test,” said a statement from the meeting.

"We really are in an era of unpredictability, which is worrying for a
number of countries not least for those closest to North Korea," says Paul Rogers, an East-Asia specialist at the University of Bradford.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband urged the UN Security Council and Asian powers to work together to stop North Korea’s “misguided and dangerous” nuclear tests.

“It’s very important that we maintain unity in the international community in the face of this deliberate provocation,” said Miliband. “We are very strongly committed to working with the regional powers as well as the UN Security Council to ensure that there is a response to contain the problem,” he added.

US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice at UN Headquarters in New York on 25 May
(Photo: Reuters)

US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice said on Tuesday that the communist state will “pay a price” if it continues nuclear tests.

“If you want to continue to test and provoke the international community, they’re going to find they’ll pay a price because the international community is clear: it’s not acceptable,” said Rice.

Meanwhile, some media reports from North Korea and regional analysts have suggested that sanctions against the country would only heighten tensions.

"I think the Chinese are still very cautions about going for
sanctions. China is really in a dilemma" Rogers told RFI. "It doesn’t want North Korea to develop a full nuclear weapons arsenal, not least because that might encourage the Japanese to eventually to develop a nuclear arsenal, which China certainly wouldn’t want. On the other hand, if further heavy sanctions are put on the Pyongyang regime, there is a risk that the entire regime and the country might implode, and that would end up with huge problems for China, not least in terms of very large numbers of refugees coming from North Korea across the Yalu river into China," he added.

North Korea withdrew from disarmament talks in protest at UN sanctions imposed after its previous rocket launch.

"The only regime that has any real weight on Pyongyang is China," says Rogers.

And some nuclear experts have said the nuclear test was smaller than originally thought. Russia had estimated that the blast was equivalent to the 1945 Hiroshima bomb, but analysis of Monday’s test with seismographic data has indicated that the test was not as strong as initially believed.

"They do have problems with their nuclear system," Rogers told RFI. "This test that was conducted yesterday does not appear to be as successful as people first thought. So they may actually have some internal problems," he added.

North Korea’s nuclear test put pressure on Japan’s yen in trading early on Monday, while the dollar strengthened as a safe-haven for investors.

On France 24 TV  Pyongyang 'fires more short-range missiles'