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Powell: No nuke test
12/09/2004 15:04 - (SA)
Washington - US Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Sunday that North Korea has not conducted a nuclear test "to the best of our knowledge and belief".
Speaking on the NBC television programme "Meet the Press," Powell said: "They haven't conducted a test to the best of our knowledge and belief, and the activity reported today is not conclusive that they're getting ready to do one or not."
"If they were to do one, I think their neighbors would be perhaps more upset than the United States would be," he added.
Powell was referring to a report by South Korea's Yonhap news agency that a huge explosion rocked North Korea's northern inland province of Ryanggang last week, triggering a mushroom-shaped cloud near the country's secret underground military base.
South Korean officials said on Sunday the blast was not likely linked to a nuclear test. Officials in Vladivostok, a Russian city located near where the blast occurred, said radiation levels were stable on the day of the explosion.
"What we have to do is denuclearise the Korean Peninsula for sure, in a verifiable way that leaves no question that the Peninsula has been denuclearised," Powell said, adding that this meant both "North and South (Korea)."
- AFP
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