BobKKKindle$
3rd October 2006, 13:42
N Korea 'to conduct nuclear test'
North Korea is to conduct a nuclear test "in the future", the foreign ministry has said in a statement.
The move would bolster the country's self-defence in the face of US military hostility, official agency KCNA said.
Pyongyang has faced mounting pressure over its nuclear programme. It is thought to have a handful of warheads but is not known to have tested one.
Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso has called the test plans "totally unforgivable", Kyodo agency reports.
Six-nation talks on its programme have been stalled for nearly a year, and the US has imposed financial sanctions on North Korean businesses.
'Grave situation'
The statement from Pyongyang said it would "in the future conduct a nuclear test under the condition where safety is firmly guaranteed".
"The US daily increasing threat of a nuclear war and its vicious sanctions and pressure have caused a grave situation on the Korean Peninsula," it said.
The ministry went on to say that "under the present situation in which the US moves to isolate and stifle" North Korea, the country "can no longer remain an onlooker to the developments."
I was proud as I read this
North Korea is to conduct a nuclear test "in the future", the foreign ministry has said in a statement.
The move would bolster the country's self-defence in the face of US military hostility, official agency KCNA said.
Pyongyang has faced mounting pressure over its nuclear programme. It is thought to have a handful of warheads but is not known to have tested one.
Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso has called the test plans "totally unforgivable", Kyodo agency reports.
Six-nation talks on its programme have been stalled for nearly a year, and the US has imposed financial sanctions on North Korean businesses.
'Grave situation'
The statement from Pyongyang said it would "in the future conduct a nuclear test under the condition where safety is firmly guaranteed".
"The US daily increasing threat of a nuclear war and its vicious sanctions and pressure have caused a grave situation on the Korean Peninsula," it said.
The ministry went on to say that "under the present situation in which the US moves to isolate and stifle" North Korea, the country "can no longer remain an onlooker to the developments."
I was proud as I read this