2nd nuke test for N Korea?
Seoul - Satellite images indicate North Korea may be preparing a second nuclear test, officials said, as the US secretary of state headed to Asia on Wednesday with warnings that the North's behavior could spark a regional atomic arms race.
Meanwhile, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il made his first known public appearance since the country conducted its nuclear test on October 9, attending a performance filled with songs praising him, the North's official media reported on Wednesday.
It's unclear what his reemergence could mean, but the reclusive leader has a pattern of dropping out of sight during critical moments when tensions are high only to resurface when tensions wane.
Condoleeza Rice was to arrive on Wednesday in Japan before heading on Thursday to South Korea and later China in efforts to persuade Asian allies and Russia to intensify North Korea's isolation by enforcing sanctions that the UN Security Council approved on Saturday.
The defiant communist regime held huge rallies on Tuesday and proclaimed that UN sanctions amount to a declaration of war, while China - the North's longtime ally and biggest trading partner - warned Pyongyang not to aggravate tensions.
Hastily arranged trip
The UN has condemned the North's atomic blast, and US nuclear envoy Christopher Hill told reporters in Seoul on Tuesday that another nuclear explosion would be "a very belligerent answer" to the world.
The US is concerned that Japan and South Korea may want to develop their own nuclear weapons programmes to counter the threat from North Korea, Rice said while en route to Japan, and part of her assignment on this week's hastily arranged trip is to lessen that temptation.
"Obviously an event of this kind does carry with it the potential for instability in the relationships that now exists in the region," Rice said. "That's why it's extremely important to go out and to affirm, and affirm strongly, US defence commitments to Japan and to South Korea," Rice said.
Her diplomatic language refers to the calculus of nuclear deterrents and to the long-standing US pledge to use its own nuclear arsenal to defend its friends.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has ruled out developing nuclear weapons, but a ruling party policy director raised that possibility soon after the North's October 9 test.
Possibility of another test
On her trip, Rice plans to ask South Korea to expand its role in a US-led programme to search suspicious ships to stop any efforts by North Korea to spread weapons of mass destruction, Alexander Vershbow, the US ambassador to South Korea, said in Seoul.
Concern over a second test stems partly from new satellite imagery showing increased activity around at least two other North Korean sites, a senior US defense official said.
The activity, started a number of days ago, includes ground preparation at one site and construction of some buildings and other structures, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because it involved intelligence gathering. He said although the purpose of the structures is unclear, officials are concerned because North Korea has left open the possibility of another test.
News source: www.news24.co.za
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