http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L03307138.htm
SEOUL, Oct 3 (Reuters) - North Korea said on Tuesday it would conduct its first nuclear test, and Washington warned it would respond to such an "unacceptable threat" to world peace.
A statement by the Foreign Ministry of the isolated communist state blamed a U.S. "threat of nuclear war and sanctions" for forcing its hand.
U.S. Ambassador John Bolton urged the U.N. Security Council to respond to North Korea's threatened nuclear test, but China said the issue should be handled by the six nations conducting talks with Pyongyang.
Pyongyang's announcement was condemned by neighboring Japan, and South Korea heightened its security alert. Britain said it would view a test as highly provocative, while Russia urged North Korea to show restraint.
North Korea's relations with the outside world have become even more tense since it test-fired missiles in July.
"The U.S. extreme threat of a nuclear war and sanctions and pressure compel the DPRK (North Korea) to conduct a nuclear test, an essential process for bolstering nuclear deterrent, as a corresponding measure for defense," said the statement carried by North Korea's official KCNA news agency.
It added that it would never use nuclear weapons first and would "do its utmost to realize the denuclearization of the peninsula and give impetus to the world-wide nuclear disarmament and the ultimate elimination of nuclear weapons."
The two Koreas, China, Japan, the United States and Russia have held talks aimed at ending Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program, but North Korea walked out of them a year ago and refuses to return until Washington ends a financial squeeze.
FACE-OFF WITH WASHINGTON
Analysts say North Korea probably has enough fissile material to make six to eight nuclear bombs but not the technology to make one small enough to mount on a missile.
Pyongyang's most extreme saber rattling to date appeared aimed at trying to force Washington into direct one-to-one talks and to end a crackdown on impoverished North Korea's offshore bank accounts, analysts said.
Washington has rejected the idea of bilateral talks until Pyongyang returns to the six-party talks.
The U.S. State Department released a statement in Cairo, where Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was meeting Arab officials, saying a test "would severely undermine our confidence in the North Koreans' commitment to six-party talks and would pose an unacceptable threat to peace and stability in Asia and the world."
It said a "provocative action of this nature would only further isolate the North Korean regime."
Bolton said the U.N. Security Council council should devise a strategy for "preventive diplomacy" and not just issue a statement. A resolution by the Security Council in July condemning North Korean ballistic missile tests needed to be followed up, he said.
"Obviously the ballistic missiles, if mated with nuclear weapons, would be a very grave threat to international peace and security," Bolton said before consultations among the 15 council members.
China's U.N. ambassador, Wang Guangya said the issue should be handled by the six nations conducting North Korea talks. China is North Korea's main supplier of aid.
"If the six-party talks cannot do anything about it, I don't think the council is in a (position) to do it," Wang told reporters.
Council members referred the issue to their capitals for further discussions on Wednesday.
Japan's new prime minister, Shinzo Abe, said any nuclear test would be unacceptable. Moscow also called on Pyongyang to exercise restraint and to make a "correct choice," calling for a resumption of the six-country talks.
South Korean security officials met and issued a statement outlining the increased security alert.
U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, traveling in Nicaragua, would not comment on whether there was a change to the status of U.S. troops, and said the threat did not change his calculation of the military threat posed to South Korea.
A U.S. congressional intelligence report said a North Korean nuclear test would deepen Pyongyang's international isolation and could spur Japan, Taiwan and even South Korea into a new Asian arms race.
The report by the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee was posted to the House panel's Web site (intelligence.house.gov) last week but began to attract news media attention with Tuesday's announcement by North Korea.
(Additional reporting by Jack Kim and Kim So-young in Seoul, Linda Sieg in Tokyo, Chris Buckley in Beijing and Gideon Long in London, Evelyn Leopold in New York, Kristin Roberts in Managua, Nicaragua and David Morgan in Washington)
posle belorusije, radikali su počeli da se oduševljavaju i severnom korejom 
