North Korea Watch: North Korea Will Conduct a Nuclear Test

Reuters: North Korea says will conduct nuclear test

An increasingly isolated North Korea said on Tuesday it would conduct its first-ever nuclear test, blaming a U.S. “threat of nuclear war and sanctions” for forcing its hand.

The statement by North Korea’s foreign ministry, carried on the official KCNA news agency, was condemned by neighboring Japan as “unacceptable” and caused South Korea to increase its security alert.

The announcement confirms weeks of rumors the communist state was planning a test and came amid increasingly sour relations with the outside world after 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,” the statement said.

But it added that North Korea 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.”

YAWN….bluster and threats from Kim Jong-Il.

China and Pyongyang are poking the United States in the eye prior to the November elections.

United Nations ambassador John Bolton calls for a UNSC response.

Diplomatic efforts will be fruitless as the United States bolsters its missile defense and militarizes Japan.

Stay tuned……

Technorati Tags: NorthKorea, KimJong-Il