The North Korean underground nuclear test confirmed by U.S. intelligence agencies on Tuesday served as a stark reminder that the unpredictable and largely inscrutable government remains a wild card for President Obama’s second term — a nuclear threat to U.S. allies in Asia and a potential arms merchant to the highest bidder.
The timing of the nuclear test was interpreted in Washington as an attempt by North Korea’s young new leader to upstage Obama before his State of the Union address. And the claim that it involved a smaller, lighter device — an important element of any deliverable weapon— suggested that the demonstration could be the most dangerous yet by Pyongyang.
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Timeline: Highs and lows in the relationship between North and South Korea
Obama called the test, North Korea’s third, a “highly provocative act” that undermines Asian regional stability and fails to strengthen North Korea’s own security.
“The United States remains vigilant in the face of North Korean provocations and steadfast in our defense commitments to allies in the region,” the president said in an unusual pre-dawn statement.
Obama’s warning came hours before his fifth State of the Union address, in which he was expected to highlight his commitment to reducing nuclear arms worldwide. That goal is complicated by North Korea’s twin efforts to perfect a nuclear bomb and the means to deliver it by missile far from its own shores.
Short of the threat of military action, the United States and the U.N. Security Council, which also strongly condemned the test on Tuesday, have little leverage over North Korea. The country is already under stringent economic sanctions that have failed to stop its nuclear development or alleged proliferation.
Heavily armed and diplomatically and economically isolated from all but its patron and neighbor China, the military-backed dictatorship and its leader, Kim Jong Eun, have rebuffed all recent U.S. efforts to negotiate over its nuclear program.
Following a hastily called emergency session Tuesday, the Security Council branded the nuclear detonation a “grave threat” to world peace and pledged to immediately seek additional binding sanctions against Pyongyang. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, a former South Korean foreign minister, also denounced North Korea as the only nation to carry out nuclear testing in the 21st century.
The statement by the 15-nation council set the stage for another high-level U.S.-led effort to persuade veto-holding China to support tougher sanctions.
Western governments were hopeful that Pyongyang’s open defiance of its powerful benefactor in Beijing would lead China to approve fresh penalties. But China is not expected to cut off the lifeline of money, energy assistance and political support that keeps North Korea afloat. Chinese authorities are worried about North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, but more worried about a tide of refugees and a security vacuum on its borders if the North implodes.
China issued a statement reiterating its previous call on North Korea “not to take any further actions that would worsen the situation” and cautioning Western powers not to overreact.
The timing of the nuclear test was interpreted in Washington as an attempt by North Korea’s young new leader to upstage Obama before his State of the Union address. And the claim that it involved a smaller, lighter device — an important element of any deliverable weapon— suggested that the demonstration could be the most dangerous yet by Pyongyang.
Graphic
Timeline: Highs and lows in the relationship between North and South Korea
Obama called the test, North Korea’s third, a “highly provocative act” that undermines Asian regional stability and fails to strengthen North Korea’s own security.
“The United States remains vigilant in the face of North Korean provocations and steadfast in our defense commitments to allies in the region,” the president said in an unusual pre-dawn statement.
Obama’s warning came hours before his fifth State of the Union address, in which he was expected to highlight his commitment to reducing nuclear arms worldwide. That goal is complicated by North Korea’s twin efforts to perfect a nuclear bomb and the means to deliver it by missile far from its own shores.
Short of the threat of military action, the United States and the U.N. Security Council, which also strongly condemned the test on Tuesday, have little leverage over North Korea. The country is already under stringent economic sanctions that have failed to stop its nuclear development or alleged proliferation.
Heavily armed and diplomatically and economically isolated from all but its patron and neighbor China, the military-backed dictatorship and its leader, Kim Jong Eun, have rebuffed all recent U.S. efforts to negotiate over its nuclear program.
Following a hastily called emergency session Tuesday, the Security Council branded the nuclear detonation a “grave threat” to world peace and pledged to immediately seek additional binding sanctions against Pyongyang. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, a former South Korean foreign minister, also denounced North Korea as the only nation to carry out nuclear testing in the 21st century.
The statement by the 15-nation council set the stage for another high-level U.S.-led effort to persuade veto-holding China to support tougher sanctions.
Western governments were hopeful that Pyongyang’s open defiance of its powerful benefactor in Beijing would lead China to approve fresh penalties. But China is not expected to cut off the lifeline of money, energy assistance and political support that keeps North Korea afloat. Chinese authorities are worried about North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, but more worried about a tide of refugees and a security vacuum on its borders if the North implodes.
China issued a statement reiterating its previous call on North Korea “not to take any further actions that would worsen the situation” and cautioning Western powers not to overreact.