North Korea ups the ante

North Korea defiantly test-fired another short-range missile today and warned it could take “self-defence” over tough sanctions being considered by the UN Security Council.

It fired the missile from its Musudan-ni launch site on the east coast. It is the sixth short-range missile North Korea has test-fired since it’s nuclear test on Monday which outraged world opinion.

With tensions high on the Korean peninsula, Chinese fishing boats left the region, possibly to avoid any maritime skirmishes between the two Koreas. But US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates said the situation was not a crisis and no additional US troops would be sent to the region.

North Korea, meanwhile, warned it would retaliate if provoked.

“If the UN Security Council makes a further provocation, it will be inevitable for us to take further self-defence measures,” the North’s Foreign Ministry said.

North Korea also accused the Security Council of hypocrisy.

“There is a limit to our patience. The nuclear test conducted in our nation this time is the Earth’s 2,054th nuclear test. The five permanent members of the UN Security Council have conducted 99.99% of the total nuclear tests.”

The North has been unrepentant since its test – which it has also called a self-defensive measure. It did not specify what further action it was considering in response to UN resolutions, or what it would consider a provocation.

Fears have increased of military skirmishes, particularly in disputed waters off the western coast, after North Korea conducted the nuclear test on Monday and then renounced the truce that has kept peace between the Koreas since the Korean War ended in 1953.

The waters were the site of two deadly clashes in 1999 and 2002.

From Yeonpyeong, the South Korean island closest to North Korea, about a dozen Chinese ships could be seen pulling out of port in the North and heading elsewhere.

South Korean and US troops facing North Korea raised their surveillance to its highest level since 2006 yesterday, when North Korea tested its first nuclear device. About 28,000 American troops are stationed across the South.

North Korea, whose 1.2-million strong military is one of the world’s largest, says it is merely preparing to defend itself against what it says are plans by the United States to launch a pre-emptive strike to overthrow its communist government.

The United States has repeatedly denied any intention to attack North Korea.

In Washington, the Army’s top officer, General George Casey, expressed confidence that the US could fight a conventional war against North Korea if necessary, despite continuing conflicts elsewhere.

But Mr Gates, en route to Singapore for regional defence talks, tried to lower the temperature.

“I don’t think that anybody in the (Obama) administration thinks there is a crisis,” he said.

Meanwhile, talks at the UN Security Council over possible sanctions for the nuclear test were moving forward slowly.

Russia’s UN ambassador said there was wide agreement among key world powers on what a new UN resolution should include, but said putting the elements together will take time because the issues are “complicated.”

A list of proposals was sent on Wednesday to the five permanent veto-wielding council members – the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France – and the two countries most closely affected by the nuclear test, Japan and South Korea.

Diplomats said a draft of the proposed resolution is not expected to be circulated until next week.