North Korea 'preparing for second nuclear test'

South Korean and Japan monitored reports today of North Korea’s possible preparations for a second nuclear test, a day after the US confirmed that communist country had, as it claimed, detonated its first nuclear device.

Washington pressed forward with a round of diplomacy in Asia to address divisions over how to impose sanctions on the North in response to the test blast, with secretary of state Condoleezza Rice due to arrive in Japan tomorrow before travelling to South Korea and China.