Russia confirms North Korean nuclear test

A top Russian military officer today confirmed that the device tested by North Korea was a nuclear weapon, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.

Russian military monitoring systems “detected the test of a nuclear weapon in North Korea,” the ITAR-Tass news agency quoted Lt. Gen. Vladimir Verkhovtsev as saying.

“It is 100 per cent (certain) that it was an underground nuclear explosion,” the agency quoted Verkhovtsev, the head of a Defence Ministry department, as saying.

Russia had urged Pyongyang not to conduct a nuclear test. Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov last week voiced concern about the environmental consequences for Russia, which borders North Korea and has large cities in the region, while the Foreign Ministry warned that a nuclear test would add to regional tensions and undermine the international nuclear non-proliferation regime.

Russia has sought to restore Soviet-era ties with Pyongyang in recent years, but its diplomacy has had little visible effect on North Korea’s actions.

President Vladimir Putin has visited North Korea, and the North’s reclusive leader Kim Jong Il has twice been to Russia.