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| UN gathers for urgent talks on North Korea nuclear test | UN gathers for urgent talks on North Korea nuclear test |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The UN Security Council has gathered in New York for urgent talks hours after North Korea defied warnings to carry out a new nuclear test. | |
| UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned the test as a "clear and grave violation" of UN resolutions and a "deeply destabilising" provocation. | UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned the test as a "clear and grave violation" of UN resolutions and a "deeply destabilising" provocation. |
| It is North Korea's third and most powerful nuclear test. | It is North Korea's third and most powerful nuclear test. |
| Describing it as a response to US "hostility", the North said "even stronger" action might follow. | Describing it as a response to US "hostility", the North said "even stronger" action might follow. |
| Nuclear test monitors in Vienna say the underground explosion had double the force of the last test, in 2009, despite the use of a device said by the North to be smaller. | Nuclear test monitors in Vienna say the underground explosion had double the force of the last test, in 2009, despite the use of a device said by the North to be smaller. |
| If a smaller device was indeed tested, analysts say this could take Pyongyang closer to building a warhead small enough to arm a missile. | If a smaller device was indeed tested, analysts say this could take Pyongyang closer to building a warhead small enough to arm a missile. |
| UN sanctions on the North were expanded after the secretive communist state launched a rocket in December, in a move condemned by the UN as a banned test of missile technology. | UN sanctions on the North were expanded after the secretive communist state launched a rocket in December, in a move condemned by the UN as a banned test of missile technology. |
| 'Stern' message | 'Stern' message |
| All we know at the moment about the North Korean test is gleaned from seismic data: the event was magnitude 4.9, significantly larger than the 2006 and 2009 tests. | All we know at the moment about the North Korean test is gleaned from seismic data: the event was magnitude 4.9, significantly larger than the 2006 and 2009 tests. |
| Learning more than that will be difficult. Monitoring stations in the region can pick up radioactive elements and particles that may - or may not - have been released from the test site; that would indicate whether the device was based on plutonium, as earlier tests, or the more worrisome uranium. | Learning more than that will be difficult. Monitoring stations in the region can pick up radioactive elements and particles that may - or may not - have been released from the test site; that would indicate whether the device was based on plutonium, as earlier tests, or the more worrisome uranium. |
| But that could take days, and may be frustrated by weather conditions; it will be virtually impossible to determine if the device was "miniaturised", as North Korea claims. | But that could take days, and may be frustrated by weather conditions; it will be virtually impossible to determine if the device was "miniaturised", as North Korea claims. |
| The UN Security Council is meeting behind closed doors, diplomats said. | |
| US President Barack Obama, who is to make his State of the Union speech later, called the test a "highly provocative act" and called for "swift" and "credible" international action in response. | US President Barack Obama, who is to make his State of the Union speech later, called the test a "highly provocative act" and called for "swift" and "credible" international action in response. |
| China, North Korea's main ally and a veto-wielding member of the Security Council, summoned North Korea's ambassador to Beijing to express its concern over the test. | China, North Korea's main ally and a veto-wielding member of the Security Council, summoned North Korea's ambassador to Beijing to express its concern over the test. |
| Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi delivered a "stern representation"' to Ji Jae Ryong and expressed China's "strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition'' to the test, the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement. | Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi delivered a "stern representation"' to Ji Jae Ryong and expressed China's "strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition'' to the test, the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement. |
| Earlier, it urged the North to honour its commitment to denuclearisation and "not take any actions which might worsen the situation". | Earlier, it urged the North to honour its commitment to denuclearisation and "not take any actions which might worsen the situation". |
| The test was condemned by North Korea's immediate neighbours, South Korea and Japan, while Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called for a revival of talks on the North's nuclear arms programme. | The test was condemned by North Korea's immediate neighbours, South Korea and Japan, while Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called for a revival of talks on the North's nuclear arms programme. |
| In a defiant message to the UN's disarmament forum, the North said it would never bow to resolutions on its nuclear programme and blamed the failure of diplomacy on the US. | In a defiant message to the UN's disarmament forum, the North said it would never bow to resolutions on its nuclear programme and blamed the failure of diplomacy on the US. |
| "The US and their followers are sadly mistaken if they miscalculate the DPRK [North Korea] would respect the entirely unreasonable resolutions against it," the North's envoy, Jon Yong Ryong, told the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva. | "The US and their followers are sadly mistaken if they miscalculate the DPRK [North Korea] would respect the entirely unreasonable resolutions against it," the North's envoy, Jon Yong Ryong, told the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva. |
| 'Miniaturised' device | 'Miniaturised' device |
| North Korea confirmed the test after international monitors recorded seismic activity consistent with a powerful underground explosion at 11:57 (02:57 GMT) on Tuesday. | North Korea confirmed the test after international monitors recorded seismic activity consistent with a powerful underground explosion at 11:57 (02:57 GMT) on Tuesday. |
| Activity had been observed at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site for several months. | Activity had been observed at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site for several months. |
| The test, state-run KCNA news agency said, was "carried out at a high level in a safe and perfect manner using a miniaturised and lighter nuclear device with greater explosive force than previously". | The test, state-run KCNA news agency said, was "carried out at a high level in a safe and perfect manner using a miniaturised and lighter nuclear device with greater explosive force than previously". |
| North Korea said the nuclear test was a response to the "reckless hostility of the United States". | North Korea said the nuclear test was a response to the "reckless hostility of the United States". |
| "The latest nuclear test was only the first action, with which we exercised as much self-restraint as possible," the foreign ministry said in a statement. | "The latest nuclear test was only the first action, with which we exercised as much self-restraint as possible," the foreign ministry said in a statement. |
| "If the US further complicates the situation with continued hostility, we will be left with no choice but to take even stronger second or third rounds of action." | "If the US further complicates the situation with continued hostility, we will be left with no choice but to take even stronger second or third rounds of action." |
| The Vienna-based Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organisation said the "explosion-like event" was twice as big as the 2009 test, which was in turn bigger than that in 2006. | The Vienna-based Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organisation said the "explosion-like event" was twice as big as the 2009 test, which was in turn bigger than that in 2006. |
| It is the first such test under new leader Kim Jong-un, who took over the leadership after his father Kim Jong-il died in December 2011. | It is the first such test under new leader Kim Jong-un, who took over the leadership after his father Kim Jong-il died in December 2011. |
| The BBC's Lucy Williamson, in Seoul, says the trouble, as ever, is what the international community can do in response without triggering an even bigger crisis - North Korea is already tied up in layers of sanctions which do not seem to have any impact. | The BBC's Lucy Williamson, in Seoul, says the trouble, as ever, is what the international community can do in response without triggering an even bigger crisis - North Korea is already tied up in layers of sanctions which do not seem to have any impact. |
| She adds that some in Washington have talked of maybe targeting North Korean financial interests, but the only real pressure is seen to lie with China. | She adds that some in Washington have talked of maybe targeting North Korean financial interests, but the only real pressure is seen to lie with China. |
| By defying the UN and launching its nuclear test now, our correspondent says, Pyongyang is giving the new leadership in Beijing a very public test of its own. | By defying the UN and launching its nuclear test now, our correspondent says, Pyongyang is giving the new leadership in Beijing a very public test of its own. |