Bush: North Korean bomb test 'unacceptable'

US President George Bush said today that a reported North Korean nuclear test poses a threat to global peace and security and denounced it as “unacceptable”.

Bush said the action “deserves an immediate response” by the UN Security Council.

He also said the transfer of nuclear weapons or material would constitute “a grave threat” to the United States, and North Korea would be held “fully accountable for the consequences of such action”.

Bush said he had telephoned the leaders of South Korea, China, Russia and Japan, and all had reaffirmed a commitment to a nuclear-free Korean peninsula.

“Once again, North Korea has defied the will of the international community, and the international community will respond,” Bush said.

Bush said the United States still was attempting to confirm that a nuclear test had taken place. Still, he said that “such a claim itself constitutes a threat to international peace and security”.

Bush’s comments were in a brief statement he made in the diplomatic reception room of the White House.

The president said North Korea was “one of the world’s leading proliferators” of weapons technology, including transfers to Iran and Syria.

“The transfer of nuclear weapons or materiel by North Korea to states or non-state entities would be considered a grave threat to the United States,” Bush said.

Bush said that in his discussion with other permanent members of the Security Council that “all of us agreed that the proclaimed actions taken by North Korea are unacceptable and deserve an immediate response by the United Nations Security Council.”

“Threats will not lead to a brighter future for the North Korean people.”