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| N Korea faces new UN resolution | N Korea faces new UN resolution |
| (10 minutes later) | |
| The UN Security Council has agreed to begin work immediately on a new resolution on North Korea after its nuclear test, its chairman said. | The UN Security Council has agreed to begin work immediately on a new resolution on North Korea after its nuclear test, its chairman said. |
| "Members voiced strong opposition and condemned the test," Russia's UN envoy, Vitaly Churkin, said after an emergency meeting of the Council in New York. | "Members voiced strong opposition and condemned the test," Russia's UN envoy, Vitaly Churkin, said after an emergency meeting of the Council in New York. |
| The test was, he added, a clear violation of UN Resolution 1718. | |
| North Korea has said the underground test was part of work to bolster what it called its nuclear deterrent. | North Korea has said the underground test was part of work to bolster what it called its nuclear deterrent. |
| Speaking after Mr Churkin, Susan Rice, the US Ambassador to the UN, said she expected the Security Council to start working on the resolution on Tuesday. | |
| "The US thinks that this is a grave violation of international law and a threat to regional and international peace and security," she said. | |
| "And therefore the United States will seek a strong resolution with strong measures." | |
| North Korea had been warning for weeks that it would strengthen its "deterrent" and walked away from long-running negotiations on its nuclear programme after the US pressed it over the verification of previous agreements. | |
| See map of test site | |
| The blast, which was estimated by international seismologists to have the power of a 4.5 earthquake, appears to have been much more powerful than North Korea's first nuclear test, in October 2006. | |
| Defence officials in neighbouring Russia say it was an explosion of up to 20 kilotons, making it comparable to the American bombs that flattened Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. | |
| Difficult task | |
| Speaking before the emergency meeting, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he was deeply disturbed by the underground test - not only in his UN capacity but also as a Korean. | |
| NUCLEAR CRISIS Oct 2006 - North Korea conducts an underground nuclear testFeb 2007 - North Korea agrees to close its main nuclear reactor in exchange for fuel aidJune 2007 - North Korea shuts its main Yongbyon reactorJune 2008 - North Korea makes its long-awaited declaration of nuclear assetsOct 2008 - The US removes North Korea from its list of countries which sponsor terrorismDec 2008 - Pyongyang slows work to dismantle its nuclear programme after a US decision to suspend energy aidJan 2009 - The North says it is scrapping all military and political deals with the South, accusing it of "hostile intent"April 2009 - Pyongyang launches a rocket carrying what it says is a communications satellite25 May 2009 - North Korea conducts a second nuclear test Q&A: North Korea nuclear test Korean test rocks region N Korea a problem for Obama | |
| He said North Korea's actions were a clear violation of UN resolutions and ran counter to ongoing efforts to curb nuclear proliferation. | |
| The international community faces a difficult task, confronting what many view as a dangerously unpredictable regime, BBC world affairs correspondent David Loyn reports. | |
| After the worst harvest for a decade, the World Food Programme believe a quarter of the population of North Korea need food aid. | |
| To divert attention, the government has abruptly broken off talks, test-firing both long- and short-range missiles and then carrying out the underground test, a major escalation, our correspondent says. | |
| It could be that this change of mind is part of an internal power struggle as hardliners seek to provoke the world to justify their own repressive rule, he adds. | |
| 'Stronger than 2006' | |
| An official communique read out on North Korean state radio said another round of underground nuclear testing had been "successfully conducted... as part of measures to enhance the Republic's self-defensive nuclear deterrent in all directions". | |
| The time to be worried has long passed Michael, Israel (currently in the US), BBC News website reader Should the world be worried? | |
| Monitors detected the test at a depth of 10km (six miles), at 0954 (0054 GMT) on Monday. | |
| The North did not report the test site but South Korean officials placed it in the north-eastern region around the town of Kilju, the site of North Korea's first nuclear test. | |
| South Korean Defence Minister Lee Sang-hee said the North had also launched two short-range missiles, one at 1208 (0308 GMT), and one at 1703 (0803 GMT). | |
| US President Barack Obama said North Korea was "not only deepening its own isolation it's also inviting stronger international pressure". | |
| NORTH KOREA'S SUSPECTED NUCLEAR TEST SITE Nuclear test on 25 May 2009 is thought to have been carried out at same site as October 2006 test | |
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