> North Korea Goes Nuclear: claims first nuclear test

SEOUL, South Korea (CNN) -- North Korea came under harsh international criticism after claiming to have carried out a successful underground nuclear weapons test on Monday.

China, a close ally of North Korea, denounced the claimed test as "brazen" and South Korea said it would respond "sternly." The United States said a test would constitute a "provocative act."

South Korea's president said Pyongyang's claimed test "broke the trust of the international community."

President Roh Moo-hyun said it brought "a severe situation that threatens stability on the Korean Peninsula and in northeast Asia."

South Korea would "react sternly and calmly" with "appropriate measures" in close cooperation with the international community, he told journalists after a summit with new Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Abe told the same news conference his country would work "to make ways to implement action for a tough resolution."

Australian Prime Minister John Howard called for financial, trade and travel sanctions, saying a "strong international response is called for."

CNN's Dan Rivers, speaking from the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea, said the key question now was what China -- which effectively allowed North Korea to exist economically -- would do. (Watch a quick timeline of how the situation reached this point -- 2:09)

The apparent nuclear test was conducted at 10:36 a.m. (1:36 a.m. GMT) in Hwaderi near Kilju city, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported, citing defense officials.

Reports of the claimed test triggered global condemnation (Full story).

Senior U.S. officials said the United States is consulting with allies around the world and would push for sanctions Monday at a 9:30 a.m. (1:30 p.m. GMT) meeting of the U.N. Security Council in New York.

South Korea's Defense Ministry raised the military alert level.

"The field of scientific research in the DPRK (North Korea's official name) successfully conducted an underground nuclear test under secure conditions on October 9. ... at a stirring time when all the people of the country are making a great leap forward in the building of a great prosperous powerful socialist nation," said North Korea's state news agency, Korean Central News Agency.

CNN's Matthew Chance said that Moscow said Russian equipment in the area had confirmed an underground test.

Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said that the force of the blast was five to 15 kilotons.

In Washington, White House Press Secretary Tony Snow responded to the reports in a conference call with reporters. (Watch initial Pentagon reaction -- 3:22)

"U.S. and South Korean intelligence detected a seismic event Sunday at a suspected nuclear test site. North Korea has claimed it conducted an underground nuclear test," Snow said.

"A North Korean nuclear test would constitute a provocative act in defiance of the will of the international community and of our call to refrain from actions that would aggravate tensions in northeast Asia," Snow added.

A senior U.S. official said China was given a 20-minute warning ahead of the test and in turn passed the information along to the United States, Japan and South Korea.

A U.S. military official told CNN that "something clearly has happened," but the Pentagon was working to fully confirm the report.

Other senior U.S. officials said they also believed the test took place, citing seismic data that appears to show one. (Watch how the world changes after a North Korean nuclear test -- 2:09)

The U.S. Geological Survey Web site recorded a light 4.2-magnitude earthquake in North Korea at 10:35 a.m., about 385 kilometers (240 miles) northeast of the North Korean capital, Pyongyang.

South Korean intelligence officials said a seismic wave of magnitude-3.58 had been detected in North Hamkyung province, according to Yonhap.

"The nuclear test was conducted with indigenous wisdom and technology 100 percent. It marks a historic event as it greatly encouraged and pleased the KPA (Korean People's Army) and people that have wished to have powerful self-reliant defense capability," KCNA reported.

"It will contribute to defending the peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in the area around it."
China's reaction

China on Monday demanded Pyongyang stop any action that would worsen the situation, Reuters news service reports.

"The DPRK has ignored the widespread opposition of the international community and conducted a nuclear test brazenly on October 9," China's Foreign Ministry said in a statement on its Web site.

"The Chinese government is firmly opposed to this," the statement said.

In Tokyo, the prime minister's office said Japan had established a task force to address the situation. Chief government spokesman Yasuhisa Shiozaki said if a nuclear test was confirmed, Japan would "strongly protest" it.

Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned the claimed North Korean nuclear weapons test, Russian news agencies reported, as Russia demanded North Korea rein in its nuclear program.

"Russia certainly condemns the test conducted by North Korea," the Interfax news agency quoted Putin as saying. "Enormous damage has been done to the process of nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction in the world."

High-level South Korean officials, meanwhile, were meeting Monday after intelligence of the suspected test was received.

"President Roh Moo-hyun called in an emergency meeting of related ministers on Monday to discuss the North Korean nuclear issue," said Yonhap, quoting Foreign Ministry spokesman Choo Kyu-ho.

"The meeting comes as there has been a grave change in the situation involving the North's nuclear activity."

According to KCNA, there was no radioactive leakage from the site.

On Friday, the Security Council warned North Korea against performing a nuclear test, citing unspecified action if it should do so.

It also called on North Korea to return immediately to the six-party talks with China, Japan, South Korea, Russia and the United States.
'Serious provocation'

The report of a North Korean nuclear test came as Japan's new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe arrived in Seoul for meetings with President Roh Moo-hyun to address the nuclear issue as well as address strains in relations between the two countries over territorial and historical disputes.

Also Monday, North Korea accused South Korea of committing a serious provocation by firing warning shots during a weekend incident in which the South says soldiers from the communist North crossed over their border.

On Monday, members of the U.N. Security Council are expected to select South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon to succeed Kofi Annan as secretary-general of the world body.

In a straw poll last Monday, all but one of the 15 council members supported that choice, according to Chinese Ambassador Wang Guangya.

John Bolton, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, refused to discuss the outcome of the vote, but said: "I think it was sufficiently clear that all members of the council agreed to move to a formal vote on Monday night," he said. The announcement would be made Tuesday, he said.

(CNN) -- North Korea could launch a nuclear missile unless the U.S. sits down for face-to-face talks, an unnamed North Korean official was quoted as saying Tuesday.

The world, meanwhile, was lining up against the reclusive regime of Kim Jong Il, with even longtime ally China saying Monday's reported nuclear test had harmed relations. The U.N. Security Council prepared to further discuss sanctions on Tuesday.

"We hope the situation will be resolved before an unfortunate incident of us firing a nuclear missile comes," South Korea's Yonhap news agency quoted a North Korean official as saying. "That depends on how the U.S. will act."

The official said the nuclear test was "an expression of our intention to face the United States across the negotiating table," reported Yonhap, which didn't say how or where it contacted the official, or why no name was given, according to an Associated Press report.

Despite the reported threat, the North's missiles are not likely to be capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, and a test firing of an alleged long-range missile failed in July. (Watch what experts think about missile strikes -- 2:11 Video)

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said Tuesday threats from Pyongyang would not work.

"This is the way North Korea typically negotiates -- by threat and intimidation," Bolton said. "It's worked for them before. It's not going to work this time."

Doubts even remained Tuesday that Pyongyang conducted a nuclear test.

That's because Western measurements showed an explosion equivalent to about 500 metric tons of TNT, which a senior U.S. intelligence community official said was unusually small for a nuclear blast.

By comparison, nuclear tests in 1998 by India and Pakistan were about 24 to 50 times as powerful, according to the Federation of American Scientists. (Nuclear nations)

Despite those doubts, North Korea's claim of a nuclear test may be enough to bring U.N. sanctions. U.N. Security Council members will resume closed-door discussions Tuesday of U.S.-proposed sanctions.

The U.S. proposals include cargo inspections and an embargo on goods that could be used in Pyongyang's missile and nuclear programs.

Bolton said Tuesday sanctions would be written to harm Kim's government, not the people of North Korea.

"Our draft resolution, in fact, carves out explicit exemptions for humanitarian supplies. ... We will try to keep that flowing to the North Korean people who need it," Bolton said.

Any sanctions would need the support of Russia and China, which hold veto power in the U.N. body.

While the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman ruled out any military actions, a South Korean diplomat visiting China said Beijing appeared ready to back some form of sanctions, AP reported.

"The nuclear test will undoubtedly exert a negative impact on our relations," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Liu Jianchao, said in a report from The Associated Press. Liu said Monday's test was done "flagrantly, and in disregard of the international community's shared opposition."

South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun said his country would reconsider its policy of engagement with the North, according to a report from the Reuters news service.

Australia said it would impose various measures on North Korea, including curtailing visas.

And Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Tokyo may impose sanctions on North Korea even if it turns out the test was a ruse, AP reported, indicating it may ban North Korean imports and international travel by North Korean officials.

President Bush on Monday insisted the United States "remains committed to diplomacy" to settle the dispute. (Watch Bush on why North Korea's move poses a threat -- 2:34 Video)

U.S. military units in the region were keeping a low profile, AP reported, with officials cautiously avoiding any comments that might provoke the North.

"We are monitoring the situation," Master Sgt. Terence Peck, a spokesman for the U.S. Forces, Japan, said on Monday. On Tuesday, officials said they had been instructed to refer all questions to the State Department.