North Korea being monitored after nuclear test

South Korea has sent a delegation to observe a US-led anti-proliferation exercise, the Foreign Ministry said today, despite Seoul’s reluctance to fully participate in an initiative that could antagonise its northern neighbour.

Separately, South Korea and the US have been monitoring activities at a possible nuclear site in North Korea to determine whether the communist country is planning a second test, reports said yesterday.

The Proliferation Security Initiative to be held in the Persian Gulf on tomorrow is part of a programme that could be used to halt North Korean weapons traffic in accordance with UN sanctions.

It will be the first PSI drill since North Korea’s October 9 nuclear test.

Despite pressure from Washington to fully participate in the PSI, South Korea has voiced concerns that its participation in searching and inspecting North Korean ships could lead to clashes with the North. Navies of the rival Koreas had deadly naval battles in 1999 and 2002.

“We have not (fully) participated in the PSI because there is a high possibility of armed clashes if the PSI is carried out in waters around the Korean peninsula,” Vice Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan said.

The participants in the Persian Gulf drill – the 25th exercise of the three-year-old Proliferation Security Initiative – are Australia, Bahrain, Britain, France, Italy and the US.

Washington has assembled 60 nations to join the Proliferation Security Initiative, an attempt to work with other navies and air forces to monitor and potentially intercept ships or aircraft suspected of ferrying illicit materials to rogue nations or to terrorists.

The US has been trying to muster support from South Korea for the UN sanctions resolution, a move that North Korea described as a “sinister attempt” to provoke a war between the two Koreas.

Seoul has said it supports the UN sanctions and this week said it would ban some Northern officials from travelling to South Korea, as well as imposing some financial controls. It was unclear how tough the South will be in enforcing the restrictions.

Meanwhile, Seoul is keeping a close watch on the movement of trucks and soldiers at the Punggye-ri site in North Korea’s remote northeast. One official, however, said a second test was ”not believed to be imminent.”

South Korea has also detected a new building being erected at the site and were trying to conform if it was linked to another nuclear test.

South Korea’s Defence Ministry said it could not confirm the reports. The US State Department refused to comment.

Earlier this week, the incoming UN secretary-general, South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon, met with Chinese leaders to discuss a UN Security Council sanctions resolution against the North.

The two sides “agreed on the need to put pressure on North Korea through UN sanctions so that it will give up its nuclear programs and come back to the six-party talks,” Lee Yong-joon, head of the South Korean Foreign Ministry’s task force on the North Korea nuclear issue, said.

Meanwhile, North Koreans continued to celebrate the success of the nuclear test in rallies around the country, according to reports.

Speakers denounced the “hostile policies” of the United States, criticised the UN sanctions and praised the nuclear test as a great advance for North Korea.