Tensions grow amid North Korea nuclear fear

SOUTH Korea and China have agreed to cooperate to prevent a possible nuclear test by North Korea amid increasing reports citing suspicious activity in the communist nation.

A nuclear test by the communist North would be “a grave situation of a different level from missile launches”, South Korean presidential security advisor Song Min-soon said after returning from a two-day trip to China.

“South Korea and China have agreed to continue cooperation not to let that situation occur,” Mr Song said. He did not elaborate on how the two countries would cooperate.

South Korea and China, along with Japan, Russia and the United States, have tried to convince the North to abandon its nuclear programme at six-party negotiations that have been on hold since November.

The North stoked tensions on July 5 by test-firing seven missiles, drawing UN Security Council sanctions, and concerns are growing that it could be preparing for a nuclear test.

Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported late Thursday that vehicles were seen in recent days at what is thought to be a nuclear testing site in north-eastern North Korea.

Kyodo quoted an unidentified government official as saying it was unclear whether any nuclear tests by the North were imminent, but that Japan was closely monitoring the situation.

The Japanese government’s top spokesman, Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe, declined yesterday to confirm the report, due to intelligence reasons, but urged North Korea to return to stalled six-nation talks on nuclear disarmament.

“If North Korea does carry out its nuclear experiment, it will pose a grave threat to the peace and security of Japan, north-east Asia, and the international community,” he said.

South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said Seoul was “closely monitoring North Korea’s movements” in cooperation with the US and other countries.

Meanwhile, South Korea’s defence minister said yesterday that North Korea is believed to have one or two nuclear weapons.

The comments by Yoon Kwang-ung to a parliamentary meeting were seen as a change in South Korea’s assessment of the North’s nuclear forces, with Seoul previously saying only that the North had the “capability” to build one or two nuclear weapons.

North Korea has claimed it has nuclear weapons, but hasn’t performed any known test to confirm it. Many experts believe the North has enough radioactive material to build at least a half a dozen nuclear weapons.