Second N Korea nuke tested?

2006-10-11 02:16

Tokyo - North Korea may have conducted a second nuclear test on Wednesday, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported, but South Korean officials quickly denied the report.

Quoting unnamed government officials, it said Japan detected a tremor from the neighbouring communist country early on Wednesday which may indicate a second nuclear test.

Officials could not confirm the report.

"We have had no information on the report yet," said a spokesperson at Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Office.

In Seoul, the South Korean presidential office quickly denied the Japanese reports, Yonhap news agency reported.

Pyongyang announced on Monday it had carried out its first-ever nuclear test, triggering global condemnation.

Blast smaller than expected

Earlier, AP reported that a North Korean diplomat said on Tuesday the country's nuclear test was smaller in blast force than had been expected, but claimed Pyongyang was able to detonate a more powerful device.

Quoting an unnamed North Korean diplomat at the country's embassy in Beijing, South Korea's Hankyoreh newspaper said the diplomat claimed the test was a success and "smaller in scale than expected".

"But the success in a small-scale (test) means a large-scale (test) is also possible," he said in comments posted on the newspaper's website.

The diplomat also said the North could take "additional measures" following Monday's nuclear test, and that the communist nation didn't fear sanctions.

"The US should show its dialogue attitude in action if it wants to solve the problem," the diplomat said in a telephone interview on Tuesday.

"Otherwise, we continue to go on this footing. We have been under sanctions so far, and therefore there won't be greater hardship for us."

The North's diplomat also repeated Pyongyang's long-running demand that the US lift financial restrictions against Pyongyang's alleged counterfeiting and money laundering.

- AFP