NORTH KOREA: True to a threat it made last week, North Korea claimed to have carried out its first successful underground nuclear weapons test yesterday, brushing aside robust international pressure to back down and heightening nuclear tensions in Asia.
Announcing its latest act of defiance, which made it the world's ninth nuclear weapons-armed state , the country's Central News Agency said there was no leak or danger from its test, which South Korean officials believe may have been carried out at Hwaderi, near Gilju in the northeast, close to the border with China.
"The nuclear test is a historic event that brought happiness to our military and people, that have wished to have powerful self-reliant defence capability," ran the announcement, couched in the Cold War rhetoric still favoured by the secretive Stalinist enclave, which is run by Kim Jong-il.
Pyongyang gave China a 20-minute warning of its test and China immediately told the United States, Japan and South Korea.
Flying in the face of a warning from the UN Security Council, the decision to test the atomic weapon raises the prospect of fresh economic sanctions on the already desperately poor state.
Pyongyang says it has no option but to pursue a nuclear weapons programme. Isolated as one of George W Bush's "rogue states", North Korea believes the United States is hellbent on invasion and that possessing atomic bombs will save it from the fate of other "axis of evil" countries such as Iraq.
The US has long-range missiles and heavy bombers within striking distance of North Korea and Pyongyang has long spoken of its decision to strengthen its "nuclear deterrent" to counter US hostile intent.
Washington has warned the International Atomic Energy Agency that North Korea has been preparing for an underground nuclear test since March this year, though it suspected it would carry it out earlier this year.
The North Koreans are particularly irked by financial sanctions imposed last year. Washington has encouraged banks around the world to stop business dealings because of North Korea's suspected money laundering and counterfeiting.
The test came just as Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe arrived for a visit to Seoul and has ratcheted up tensions in the region. The timing of the test could also have wider implications as President Bush gears up for mid-term elections.
Reaction in the region to the news was swift, particularly in neighbouring countries. South Korea put its military on a heightened state of alert, and a spokesman for President Roh Moo Hyun said his country would respond sternly to the test.
Japan's foreign minister, Taro Aso, said Tokyo was considering levying a further round of punishing sanctions on North Korea and was also considering going for a fresh UN Security Council resolution.
In a strongly worded statement which marked a significant change from its previous stance on North Korea, China described the nuclear test as "brazen" and called on its neighbour to stop any action that would worsen the situation.
China is the closest North Korea has to a meaningful ally and gives food aid, energy and raw materials to help prop up the North's teetering economy. It needs to toe the international line on condemning the North as it does not wish to strain its relations with the United States, but it also has an interest in maintaining the status quo in North Korea. If it collapses, it could lead to a major influx of refugees, as well as causing a potentially destabilising power vacuum.
"The DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea] has ignored the widespread opposition of the international community and conducted a nuclear test brazenly on October 9th. The Chinese government is firmly opposed to this," the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement.
Both South Korea and China have taken a rather ambivalent stance on North Korea's nuclear ambitions as they are worried about instability on the Korean peninsula and are wary of painting North Korea into a corner.
Where North Korea's neighbours all agree is on the pressing need for Pyongyang to rejoin six-nation talks, which also include the US and Russia. The talks have been stalled for the past year.
Geologists in the US, Russia and South Korea detected a 4.2 magnitude tremor in North Korea at 10.35 local time (01.35 GMT) yesterday. The test makes North Korea the ninth declared nuclear power alongside the US, Russia, Britain, China, France, India, Pakistan and Israel.
The explosion generated a force equivalent to 550 tons of TNT. The atomic bomb the United States dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 produced an explosion equivalent to 12,500 tons of TNT.
Analysts believe Pyongyang has enough material to make six to eight nuclear bombs. What remains to be seen is whether it can miniaturise the warheads to be transported on a missile. North Korea pulled out of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty in 2003 after Washington accused it of engaging in a secret nuclear programme.